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Democrats have only themselves to blame for deadlock

3 min read

Leave it to Democrats to concoct a presidential nominating system so cockeyed and confusing it’s no wonder Sen. Barack Obama can’t put away Sen. Hillary Clinton, or that Clinton can’t easily catch or surpass Obama. The system is so complicated that it seems to promote gridlock in a tight race – and it’s well beyond the average voter’s understanding. In the just-concluded Pennsylvania primary, Clinton bested Obama statewide by 10 percentage points, 55-45. With 187 Pennsylvania delegates overall, you might think Clinton could leapfrog over Obama in terms of the national delegate count. But unlike the Republicans – who’ve devised a much cleaner, workable and easier-to-understand, winner-take-all system – Democrats have so muddied the waters you need to be a political science professor to figure it out.

Of those 187 Democrat delegates, 29 weren’t up for grabs at all. They’re called “superdelegates,” and include the likes of Gov. Ed Rendell, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., 11 congressmen, members of the Democratic National Committee and other party bigwigs. They get to go to the Democratic National Convention and vote for whomever they want.

Of the remaining 158 Pennsylvania Democratic delegates, another 20 fit in the category of “party leaders and elected officials,” such as big-city mayors and state officeholders. Picked on June 7 by the state Democratic Party, they’re awarded based on how well a candidate did on Election Day.

Another 35 delegates are awarded “at-large,” based on the statewide popular vote. By winning 55 percent of the popular vote to 45 percent for Obama, Clinton would get 19 of these delegates and Obama 16.

The remaining 103 delegates are awarded proportionally among congressional districts, based on Democratic voting strength in the most recent presidential and gubernatorial elections. Some congressional districts in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia got to elect seven or nine delegates; districts in more rural areas got to elect three, four or five.

But within those districts, delegates are awarded based on how badly one candidate beats the other. In the 12th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Johnstown), it takes an insider like Fayette County Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites to break things down: Clinton won four of the five available delegates only by obtaining more than 63 percent of the vote. Anything less would have resulted in a 3-2 delegate split in favor of Clinton – and if Obama had gotten less than 15 percent of the vote district-wide, he wouldn’t have gotten any 12th District delegates.

Take into consideration that the same formula applied to the other 18 congressional districts in Pennsylvania, many of which cross county lines, and you begin to see why it takes days to figure out which candidate won what in terms of delegates.

Democrats also divvy up delegates based on gender, which is a further complication. For example, in the 12th District, a male Clinton delegate could get more votes than a female Clinton delegate, but the female could end up going to the convention because of party rules.

It’s a crazy system, so it’s not surprising that of the 158 delegates up for grabs, all that could be said two days after the election was that Clinton won “at least” 82 and Obama won “at least” 73, with three still to be awarded. Nationally, Obama still led Clinton by 131 delegates.

If Democrats want to avoid this kind of bitter race deep into the nominating process, they should simplify and streamline their nominating process. The Republicans appear to have already done that.

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