Panic At the Democratic Disco!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 | 10:07 PM

There are cries of outrage throughout the Democratic Party as rumors that mysterious superdelegates, or worse, "a back room deal" will decide the nomination.  Howard Dean is being quoted (and misquoted) all over the place, warning of grave danger to the party.  But few are paying attention to what he actually said:

"I think we will have a nominee sometime in the middle of March or April. But if we don't, then we're going to have to get the candidates together and make some kind of an arrangement." -Howard Dean

That's the "middle of March or April," to be clear.  We are still in February and Democrats have yet to finish counting today's ballots let alone hold the Texas and Ohio primaries- which will likely be decisive from the looks of tonight. 

A couple of questions: Why do we hold primaries through June if they're not supposed to count? 

Do you really think that Howard Dean will preside over a completely unfair and opaque process that is assured to invite the scorn of voters and journalists alike?

Furthermore, the superdelegates are not just shadowy figures who answer to no one.  Most are elected officials who will be under pressure to vote with their constituents.  Keep in mind that even the unelected Superdelegates are  party loyalists and my guess is none of them want to act to the detriment of the DNC.  In fact, some of them are speaking out against their own power. 

So, hold your horses, Donkeys- until March 5^th, at least.  If Clinton and Obama are still within a few hundred pledged delegates of each other, then you can freak out.  Enough alarms have been pulled at this point that I don't think you're going to have another 1968 on your hands.

By Sarah Scully | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)