Delegate Contest May Lead To "Thief-in-Chief"

BY MICHAEL LINN JONES

The above photo made the rounds between election day 2000 and the installment of George W. Bush in the White House. I think it's kind of cute yet rather biting in its humor. It was directed at those who felt (and still feel) that the election was stolen from Al Gore. 2000 confirmed two things for me; our electoral system is a mess, and Florida voters can't fill out a ballot with both hands and a flashlight.

It came back to me as I considered the current state of the Democratic primary race. For now, debates and posturing have given way to the brass tacks of political conventions; delegates. So, the party that pointed out (rightly, in my opinion) that the election of 2000 was tainted, is now faced with its own internal quandary.

As I write this I hear on the radio that Hillary Clinton, in a response to a question about the momentum of Barack Obama, said that the people should be allowed to speak. Politics, however, seems to make many contradict themselves in short order.

If, as many predict, the delegate count is fairly even come convention time, the question arises as to which candidate the "superdelegates" should back. In this Sen. Clinton probably has the edge.

Also, there can be the pesky problem of delegates "won" in state caucuses getting lost on their way to the convention. Walter Mondale did it to Gary Hart's delegates in 1984, and it could happen again.

Finally, there is this somewhat sleazy feel to the "primaries" of Michigan and Florida. The DNC punished the states for moving their elections forward against the wishes of the party. The elections in those two states were categorized as irrelevant because.....long ago.....it was assumed that the nomination would be sewed up without them.

Now they loom on the horizon as a test of the fairness of the Democratic Party. If the three factors above are manipulated by either candidate, then the electoral thievery so condemned eight years ago will perch on the roof of the party and its nominee.

Fudging a bit is normal in elections. So is baby-kissing, butt-kissing, and shaking hands with people who make you want to bathe in GermX afterwards.

But outright theft; no. Going into a Fall campaign with a millstone around one's neck is not good politics.

There is not much point in being captain of a sinking ship, especially if you're the one who scuttled it in the first place.
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Cross-posted at Michaellinnjones.com