Law Students

You Thought the Superdelegates Thing Was Bad?

Hillary Clinton?s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.

This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official on Monday. And I am not talking about superdelegates, those 795 party big shots who are not pledged to anybody. I am talking about getting pledged delegates to switch sides.

What? Isn?t that impossible? A pledged delegate is pledged to a particular candidate and cannot switch, right?

Wrong.

Pledged delegates are not really pledged at all, not even on the first ballot. This has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened.

But not this time. This time, one candidate may enter the convention leading by just a few pledged delegates, and those delegates may find themselves being promised the sun, moon and stars to switch sides.

?I swear it is not happening now, but as we get closer to the convention, if it is a stalemate, everybody will be going after everybody?s delegates,? a senior Clinton official told me Monday afternoon. ?All the rules will be going out the window.?

Rules of good behavior, maybe. But, in fact, the actual rules of the party allow for such switching. The notion that pledged delegates must vote for a certain candidate is, according to the Democratic National Committee, a ?myth.?

Primary elections? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Democracy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Can anyone confirm that the party rules actually allow pledged delegates to switch? And if so, WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING WITH THIS PARTY SYSTEM?

That is all.

Full post as published by Law and Letters on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).