Who do you think should be elected in 2008?

[hectorberlioz]

Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas....I'm not counting Hillary out yet. She and Obama are pretty much tied in delegates right now, in addition to the fact that she won the votes of FL and MI (but no delegates).

Anyone want to place bets?

P.S. did anyone notice that Mike Gravel never dropped out of the race?

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas....I'm not counting Hillary out yet. She and Obama are pretty much tied in delegates right now, in addition to the fact that she won the votes of FL and MI (but no delegates).

Anyone want to place bets?

P.S. did anyone notice that Mike Gravel never dropped out of the race?

My caucus is in about an hour. Should be interesting.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

I have heard of him. He was a possible VP pick.

No. He failed to get the Republican nomination and ran as an Independent.

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

No he wasn't. He talked the talk, but in terms of actual legislation he was only a bit right of center, much as Clinton was a bit left of center, while talking the liberal talk.

This is about elections. He wasn't elected as a centrist.

They can turn into little bunny foo foo after being elected, there are a lot of factors. But he was elected from the RIGHT.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

No. He failed to get the Republican nomination and ran as an Independent.

He ran in '76, right? I think we're talking about the same guy...

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

My caucus is in about an hour. Should be interesting.

Voting for Obama, then?

[hectorberlioz]

Gotta love this style...

Btw Sis, you're right...not the same guy we're talking about. I do think I've heard his name bandied around before though...

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Voting for Obama, then?

This isn't voting, exactly. The peeple voted, now we select delegates to be the voice of the voters, proportional in each district to the state convention, then from the state convention to the national.

It's more like voting who gets a ticket for the field trip. No matter how we aggrandize ourselves, we're more like waiters than chefs.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

This isn't voting, exactly. The peeple voted, now we select delegates to be the voice of the voters, proportional in each district to the state convention, then from the state convention to the national.

It's more like voting who gets a ticket for the field trip. No matter how we aggrandize ourselves, we're more like waiters than chefs.

Interesting! So it's one of those messy delegate thingies. You say it's a caucus, but can't candidates win caucuses?

This seems like the deal in West Virginia, where the McCain delegates revoted with the Huckabee delegates.

[hectorberlioz]

Wha...? Rush Limbaugh was only pretending to hate McCain?

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Interesting! So it's one of those messy delegate thingies. You say it's a caucus, but can't candidates win caucuses?

This seems like the deal in West Virginia, where the McCain delegates revoted with the Huckabee delegates.

The rules for each state and party are different. In ours, if you want to be a delegate to the state convention, you register a preference for a candidate with the party before the general primary. You can register for any candidate on the ballot, but we only send delegates for candidates who receive 15 % of the vote, or more.

Each representative district caucuses and selects their delegates to the state convention. Obama delegates caucus separately from Hillary delegates, who are separate from Biden delegates, etc. Each caucus selects 2 delegates and an alternate to go to the state, and there we winnow it down to select our delegates to go to the national.

So, in practice, I'm in a circle of a dozen people, or so. All of us are prospective state delegates from the same neighborhoods favoring the same candidate. We introduce ourselves and state briefly why we should be picked to go. Your reasons might range from "I'm passionate about this candidate and have to be part of seeing her, him elected." to "I've been working on campaigns for 40 years, this time is my turn to go to the national." Some people are newcomers, some of us have worked together for years. We get a review of guidelines (we try to send a diverse group) and then we vote. If you adore your candidate, you make sure to vote for someone who won't be swayed on the floor by people wooing them.

Clear as mud, I'm sure.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

You can register for any candidate on the ballot, but we only send delegates for candidates who receive 15 % of the vote, or more.

Each caucus selects 2 delegates and an alternate to go to the state, and there we winnow it down to select our delegates to go to the national.

So, in practice, I'm in a circle of a dozen people, or so. All of us are prospective state delegates from the same neighborhoods favoring the same candidate. [snip] If you adore your candidate, you make sure to vote for someone who won't be swayed on the floor by people wooing them.

Clear as mud, I'm sure.

Wow, I didn't know it was that...malleable

I wanna be a delegate!

Actually, I would just like to volunteer for the McCain campaign here in TN. I don't know how to do that though...

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

http://tennessee.johnmccain.com/

http://tn.gop.com/StatesPage.aspx?

Hope this helps.

[Tessar]

Rush Limbaugh is confusing . That's all there is to it.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Wha...? Rush Limbaugh was only pretending to hate McCain?

Originally Posted by Tessar

Rush Limbaugh is confusing . That's all there is to it.

Oxy will do that to you.

He just wants to go to the Inaugural Ball. He's an idiot, and he really expected his "dittoheads" to follow him anywhere.

[hectorberlioz]

I just had a storming thought: what's going to happen to John McCain's seat? There's been some rumors of him resigning it.

Btw, I'm going to raise the McCain flag in my sig....big deal for me

[hectorberlioz]

Romney to endorse McCain later on today

That's a lot of delegates to give McCain. What a Valentine's Day gift, eh?

[brownjenkins]

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

This is about elections. He wasn't elected as a centrist.

They can turn into little bunny foo foo after being elected, there are a lot of factors. But he was elected from the RIGHT.

Bush, like all winning candidates, was elected from the right and the center. The center is the largest portion of the electorate and it's how much of that one captures that determines victory.

This time may be an exception, since it appears as if Obama is inspiring many to vote who do not normally do so, but we'll have to see. In general, those who do not vote are largely on the left.

The idea of "energizing the base" is largely overrated in general elections because, when push comes to shove, the base almost always ends up voting, and voting for their chosen party. The one's you have to energize are the ones on the fringes.

[hectorberlioz]

Very interesting, BJ.

*cough* as one pundit has put it, the only flipping Romney will be doing is flipping the bird to Huckabee before he kills Huck's campaign *cough

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

Bush, like all winning candidates, was elected from the right and the center. The center is the largest portion of the electorate and it's how much of that one captures that determines victory.

This time may be an exception, since it appears as if Obama is inspiring many to vote who do not normally do so, but we'll have to see. In general, those who do not vote are largely on the left.

The idea of "energizing the base" is largely overrated in general elections because, when push comes to shove, the base almost always ends up voting, and voting for their chosen party. The one's you have to energize are the ones on the fringes.

I don't agree. Nader pulled "base" support from the Dems in the last 2 elections. And you have NO idea how hard those R homeschoolers work, during an election. They can chose to stay home, and sometimes they do.

[brownjenkins]

Third party candidates are a different story, but there doesn't look to be any this time around.

And I'd say that "single issue" voters, those who won't vote based on what they don't like as opposed to what they do, are a small enough population to not really matter. I also would not call them "base" voters.

Independents are far and away the largest swing vote and thus, by definition, decide every election.

The real reason why candidates play to their bases is not for votes, but for money, which is much more likely to come from that angle. They just don't dare say it out loud.