Originally Posted By: whomod
... At the end of the day, the popular vote for the Democratic nomination means nothing. I doubt that having won the popular vote in the 2000 general election is of much solace to Al Gore. Many a football team gains more yards than its opponent in a game yet loses on that important technicality called points.[/b]


The popular vote may not mean anything to an Obama supporter but I think superdelegates would dissagree about that. BSAMS posted something not long ago that actually asked them what they considered important factors. Having more pledged delegates wasn't at the top of the list for 90% of them. Since Obama has long sinced passed the point of being able to get enough pledged delegates to win the nomination, what the superdelegates think are important.

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Also, this paragraph says so much:

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But you can’t change how the game is played once it has begun. The Democrats have decided that the nominee will be determined by the number of delegates won, not by the popular vote, and that primaries held in direct violation of party rules (in this case, Florida’s and Michigan’s) don’t count. End of discussion.


The spin makes me dizzy. There is no rule that what was decided about Florida & Michigan must never be reconsidered. The party actually has rules that allow them to amend/reconsider/change these decisions. Probably won't happen but to pretend these things are set in stone is flatly untrue. Punishing the voters from 2 big states will have consequences btw. If the superdelegates back Obama you can probably write off Florida.


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Yes. So, let's end this discussion.

Oh, wait...

I know it's probably too early to be this annoyed, but how is this acceptable?

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"I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else, and I am proud of that," Clinton said at a rally in Indianapolis. "It's a very close race, but if you count, as I count, the 2.3 million people who voted in Michigan and Florida, then we are going to build on that."


"If you count as I count"? How about not? How about we don't because those were the agreed upon terms. No backsies.

I am truly convinced that if the results were reversed and Obama was down and tried to loop in the popular vote from states where all candidates agreed not to campaign (especially any state where Clinton's name wasn't even on the ballot!), her camp would be crying foul so fast it would make your head spin.


Just because the party won't recognize the Florida & Michigan delegates it doesn't somehow retcon the fact that people did vote in those states. Those votes exist no matter if you respect them or not. There isn't a rule that keeps those votes from being included in the popular vote count.

Fair play!