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February 20, 2004
Delegate Count
One thing that annoyed me today watching CNN was the network reporting that Edwards has 192 delegates but Dean who has *dropped out* has 202. Can't be good for Edwards, right? Well, actually at least 68 of Dean's delegates are super delegates or party officials from states who haven't even voted yet. Surely these elected officials will now back someone else (or no one at all) instead of sticking with a loser. They want their vote to count, don't they?
This kind of lazy media coverage always pisses me off, but it's par for the course. Dean's 2nd place showing in the delegate count is just part of the Dean fantasy -- nearly a third of his delegates come from the overinflated influence of party insiders. Edwards's delegate count has been hard won the old fashioned way by piling up lots of strong second place showings and one win in South Carolina.
It would make a lot of sense to just not include super delegate votes in the count at this stage -- surely it would "hurt" Kerry the most, as his super delegates inflate his total count proportionally much more than Edwards. Another good idea would be for politicians not to endorse at the last minute. It says a lot that Barnes and Cleland stuck out their necks early on for Edwards and Kerry respectively. It says a lot less for a Mark Warner, Jennifer Granholm or Tom Harkin to jump on the train just as it appears to be leaving the station.
As with everything in life though, I'd probably be singing a different tune if my candidate were getting these late endorsements :)
Posted by Chris at February 20, 2004 12:10 AM
Comments
Chris,
All delegates are hard won. Dean's superdelegates came as a result of two years of tireless campaigning. John Kerry got his by turning his faltering campaign around.
None of this is easy.
Posted by: Dmitri at February 20, 2004 01:12 PM
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