Democratic National Convention

Florida will not hold a do-over primary and, while the public haggling between campaigns will continue for weeks and maybe months, this final compromise is looking increasing likely: A delegation based on the results of January's "outlaw" primary will be seated at the convention, but with each delegate only receiving a half-vote.

What this would mean, in terms of the zero-sum nomination contest, is that Barack Obama will have dodged a bullet.  read more »

The Super Tuesday stalemate has only reinforced comparisons between the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama contest and the fight for the Democratic nomination 1984, another one-on-one race that pitted an insurgent against the party establishment -- and one that wasn’t settled until the party’s July convention in San Francisco.

In that ‘84 campaign, the Obama role was played by Gary Hart, whose “new ideas” fueled a stunning 13-point victory in New Hampshire that rocketed him to the top of the race and, within weeks, brought Walter Mondale -- who had entered the campaign as the most prohibitive favorite in primary history -- to the brink of capitulation. A Hart sweep of Super Tuesday in early March 1984 would have flushed the former vice president from contention, but when Mondale narrowly won two states that day (to Hart’s seven), the press declared him reborn. When the primaries and caucuses finally finished in June, it was a draw: Both men had won about the same number of pledged delegates and Hart had even edged Mondale in the combined popular vote.

But the nomination was Mondale’s because most of the superdelegates -- party leaders and elected officials who account for 20 percent of all convention votes -- had been with him from the start, long before Hart had emerged as a viable option.

“My wife and I called every one of them personally between the California primary (on June 2) and the convention, and overwhelmingly they said, ‘I wish I hadn’t committed to Mondale, but I’m committed,’” Hart said.

More after the jump.  read more »

In an interview taped yesterday for Inside City Hall, Howard Dean expressed opposition to a brokered convention if the Democratic primary contests fail to produce a candidate with enough delegates to win the nomination.

Dean told Dominic Carter he thinks there will be a nominee by March or April, and if not, "we're going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement."

Transcript after the jump.  read more »

John Edwards is suspending his candidacy, as opposed to officially dropping out, because it will allow him to hold onto the 26 pledged delegates he has accumulated—plus any other he might pick up with his name still on the ballot across the country.  read more »

In theory, the idea of John Edwards as the kingmaker of the Democratic convention makes sense: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama finish the primary season essentially tied for delegates, with Edwards running far back with 400 or so of his own. Then, with both front-runners short of the 2,026 delegates needed to win the nomination, Edwards could essentially pick the nominee, in exchange for some kind of concession--Attorney General, maybe?

But it’s unlikely to happen. Right now Edwards has only 26 pledged convention delegates (14 from Iowa, four from New Hampshire, and eight from South Carolina). He also has support from an estimated 32 super-delegates (elected leaders and party officials), but they can back out at anytime. Chances are that his total is not going to get much higher.

To add to his pledged delegates, Edwards needs to get at least 15 percent in every state yet to vote (not necessarily at the statewide level, though, since delegates are apportioned by district). But his failure to break through in the first four states is making him less relevant to the Democratic race every moment. He was always overshadowed by the Hillary vs. Barack storyline, but now he's utterly eclipsed by it.  read more »

Today is the deadline for Democratic presidential candidates to file with the state Board of Elections to get on the New York ballot, and Barack Obama’s campaign just announced that he has qualified for a full slate of delegates.

Here's the slate, and the lists of delegates for Obama and Edwards.

If you notice anything interesting, let us know.

Boy, are the New York Democrats looking forward to the convention.

Here's an email from Jonathan Rosen about hotel assignments for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver:

Dear Usual Suspects,
 
Remember that moment when you found out your dorm assignment and the name of your roommate.  Me too.  Brett Hall.  Dan Ross.
 
This is sort of like that except it involves knowing which lobby bar in Denver you will be inhabiting in late August, 2008.
 
Today the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) made hotel assignments.  Regardless of who gets nominated, we’ve got room keys. 
 
The NY delegation will be staying at the Adams Mark Hotel at 1550 Court Pl in Downtown Denver.  In a rekindling of other epic East Coast / West Coast rivalries (think Tupac / Biggie, June O’Neill / Robert Dornan) the California delegation will also be staying there.   

The rest of the email is after the jump.  read more »

The names are still trickling in...

A Democratic source sends over the a list of people the Hillary Clinton campaign wants as delegates from the 9th congressional district, which includes Queens and Brooklyn. It includes: Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, City Councilwoman Melinda Katz, who is running for comptroller, James Conigliaro, head of the local machinist union [fixed], Maf Uddin, the treasurer of DC37, Mitchell Partnow and Mary J. Plunkett, as an alternate.

Keep them coming, please.

Here's part of one petition circulating on Manhattan’s East Side for people running to be Hillary Clinton delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year.

(The names of the delegates on this list were ones chosen by the campaign even though anybody, technically, can run.)

The jostling for New York's official Democratic convention delegate spots has been quietly playing out in political circles here for some time. And since a Hillary Clinton win in New York is kind of a foregone conclusion, it's really a contest to be named by her campaign.

Officially, delegates have to run and win the spot in party elections, so anyone can still grab a slot. But the campaign has its own list, which is pretty determinative.

Here’s a list of a few of those delegates, this one coming from the 14th congressional district, based on information from two Democratic sources:  read more »