Spring Break
California: Here they come
Mandie Mohsenzadegan
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: News
• Then it means some apportionment of delegates to the party conventions. The delegates are the ones who actually at the conventions in the summer choose the party nominees.
That was going to be the next question - defining the delegates.
A delegate is somebody who gets chosen at a primary, for a caucus, to go to Denver for the Democrats and Minneapolis for the Republicans and vote on who the candidate will be.
• Delegates are pledged. Some states are winner-take-it-all, which means if you win by 32 percent (or more), you get all of the delegates for the state - usually that's the Republican side.
• (On) the Democratic side, the delegates would be divided up according to the proportion of the vote. We're a big state, so just winning that many would be more than all the delegates that has been decided so far in the other states.
• Taking first doesn't mean you get all the delegates … For example, John Edwards, although he hasn't won anyplace yet, I think he will stay in until the California (primary) and all the primaries on Feb. 5, because if he gets 10 percent in California that would be 10 percent of the delegates.
So he still has a fair chance?
He has a chance. It's not a great chance, but he has a chance. See, what could happen is, normally through a sequence of primaries one candidate emerges as the leader, and they accrue sufficient delegates to assure that they get the nomination … After Feb. 5, they're going to be adding up the delegates to see where all the different candidates stand. Usually by March or April we know; somebody's got a majority of the delegates at the convention.
But I think what's going to happen this time, nobody's going to have that clear majority because we've got several good candidates in both parties. Nobody's the clear, single frontrunner right now, so it could all split up and the convention really could decide.
Are winning delegates more important than winning a state?
That was going to be the next question - defining the delegates.
A delegate is somebody who gets chosen at a primary, for a caucus, to go to Denver for the Democrats and Minneapolis for the Republicans and vote on who the candidate will be.
• Delegates are pledged. Some states are winner-take-it-all, which means if you win by 32 percent (or more), you get all of the delegates for the state - usually that's the Republican side.
• (On) the Democratic side, the delegates would be divided up according to the proportion of the vote. We're a big state, so just winning that many would be more than all the delegates that has been decided so far in the other states.
• Taking first doesn't mean you get all the delegates … For example, John Edwards, although he hasn't won anyplace yet, I think he will stay in until the California (primary) and all the primaries on Feb. 5, because if he gets 10 percent in California that would be 10 percent of the delegates.
So he still has a fair chance?
He has a chance. It's not a great chance, but he has a chance. See, what could happen is, normally through a sequence of primaries one candidate emerges as the leader, and they accrue sufficient delegates to assure that they get the nomination … After Feb. 5, they're going to be adding up the delegates to see where all the different candidates stand. Usually by March or April we know; somebody's got a majority of the delegates at the convention.
But I think what's going to happen this time, nobody's going to have that clear majority because we've got several good candidates in both parties. Nobody's the clear, single frontrunner right now, so it could all split up and the convention really could decide.
Are winning delegates more important than winning a state?
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Hispanic4Obama
posted 1/23/08 @ 1:33 AM PST
I think those who accuse Hilary of crying crocodile tears are wrong. What baffles me is why her supporters consider her crying words, "I have so many opportunities from this country. (Continued…)
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