Comments on: DailyKos declares war against Clinton

By: DJ

DJ — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:56:13 +0000

Obama too has benefited from open primaries. In Utah, unaffiliated voters like me get to vote for the Dem we think would be the best leader, not the one who will strengthen the party’s share of hegemony.

BTW, GOP has “superdelegates” too, they just don’t call them that (and they wield only 5% of the vote, not 20% like the Dems). Neither party trusts the electorate completely.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:47:56 +0000

Since you bring up Instant Run-off Voting (IRV), there have been big strides in the coalition pushing IRV in L.A. and quite possibly it could be on the ballot in November 2008! With the Greens I have been involved in this a long time, as the Green Party has been a way-early promoter and endorser of IRV.

Good to see all these other groups and politicians have come onboard and for the latest news visit:
http://irvinla.org/

By: Eli Stephens

Eli Stephens — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:07:20 +0000

As a relatively disinterested outside observer with no dog in this particular hunt, I find the bouhaha over superdelegates both amusing and remarkably hypocritical. The same Democrats who scream about the possible violation of the “rules” if the elected but not recognized delegates in Florida and Michigan are seated, are perfectly willing to discard the rule that there are such things (in the Democratic Party primary) as “superdelegates” to begin with. If the Democratic Party had wanted to have the electorate be the only voice in the process, they wouldn’t have established the rule creating superdelegates in the first place, and if superdelegates are somehow bound by the votes for the other delegates, then they aren’t superdelegates at all.

Then there is the open primary question. Last night I heard some Democrat complaining about how Clinton has been winning primaries in states with open voting with the help of many Republican votes. Personally, I think the idea of open primaries is a travesty, with the defeat of Cynthia McKinney being one of many examples of the result. But given that the Democrats, who have total control over the process, have established such primaries (in many though not all states), complaining about Republicans misusing them is too little, too late.

Maybe someday all these Democrats will actually become “democrats” and throw their support behind proportional representation and instant runoff voting.