There's an article over on Salon.com that I cannot possibly improve upon in any way, regarding the fact that if the Democrats used a winner-take-all system (which is most in line with the electoral-college reality), Clinton would be winning the nomination contest. It also makes a few other claims about Barack Obama's failure to represent true democracy. It's definitely worth a read or two to anyone who's even mildly interested in this nomination.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
And if the Democrats chose their nominee based on the total national popular vote, as I believe you have espoused for general elections, abolishing the electoral college, Obama would be in easily. Now, wouldn't that be REAL democracy?
It's all how you frame the issue, isn't it? As I'm sure they teach you in Speech and Debate.
:-)
That wouldn't be at all "easily", especially if you count Michigan and Florida (and wouldn't THAT be real democracy?). And the gap that still remains could easily be closed by Clinton by the end of this. The gap Clinton would have with a winner-take-all system, on the contrary, would be virtually insurmountable.
Most Democrats say the most important thing is to get a Democrat into the office in January of '09. If that's the case, why aren't we looking at reality, and who fares better under the sort of system that actually gets someone elected?
The Democrat who wins the primary in any given state isn't necessarily the Democrat who will do the best against the Republican in November.
Look at the Republican side: The most conservative candidate almost always wins the primary, but that is exactly the one who does worst in the general election.
That may be less true in this year's Democratic race, because so many independents are voting in Democratic primaries, where that is allowed. But it still means you have to be cautious making the argument that you're making.
If winnability is the primary consideration -- and this year, at least, I agree it is -- then it makes sense to let the "professionals" -- the superdelegates -- make the call. Just as was always done before primaries became so popular.
I guess you missed the part of the article where it said the polls show Clinton doing better against McCain electoral college-wise than Obama.
Oh, by the way, one of the speeches that got me the national qualification was a defense of the superdelegate system. :P
Post a Comment