Sunday, February 10, 2008

Delegate Count 2025: If Man is Still Alive. If Woman Can Survive…


Remember that AM radio pop hit from the 1960’s by Zager and Evans entitled In the Year 2525:

“In the year 2525
If man is still alive.
If woman can survive, they may find…”

I know, I know…sorry. Now you’ll have that dang song stuck in your head all day.

If you can excuse my taking liberties with your song lyrics, Mssgrs. Zager and Evans, the theme music to this election year’s Democratic Primary Race could aptly be your song:

“Delegate Count 2025
If man is still alive.
If woman can survive, Democrats may find…their candidate”

Just think of all the new mechanical revenues this would bring in as a result of the networks going down into the cobweb encrusted vaults of their radio affiliates and dusting off old 45 rpm copies of your record to play as Campaign Election Coverage bumper music.

The more pertinent question may actually be, can the Democratic Party survive a brokered Democratic National Convention in August to reunify in time for the November general election. The race appears to be a dead heat as far as the eye can see.

A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the Democratic Party's endorsement. After Obama’s decisive victories over Senator Clinton in the states of Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska yesterday, the delegate count is virtually even: approximately 1,100 for Clinton to 1039 for Obama, including super delegates. These super delegates, however, are free to switch their allegiance at any time, and being made up of party and and elected officials, you can expect them to jump on or off whichever bandwagon best serves their personal interest.

Other than said super delegates, who the Democrats endorse could very well come down to what decision is made to the question over whether the Michigan and Florida delegates are seated. As you remember, the DNC stripped those states of their delegates because they violated party rules and moved their state primaries up in an attempt to make their respective states more relevant in helping choose the party’s endorsement. As fate and the law of unexpected consequences often holds, to the DNC’s chagrin, Michigan and Florida may actually hold the key. The question remains, however, who turns the key, DNC members or the party’s electorate.

With next week’s mid-Atlantic races favoring Obama and the March and April contests in the big, delegate rich states of Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania currently favoring Clinton (although polls could change as the race is breaking more and more in Barack’s favor), the Dems may have a real mess on their hands come August in Denver at their convention.

Delegate Count 2025 indeed!

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