Topic: 
Pownce it!
The party nominating rules that choose delegates of the two major parties - the Democrats and Republicana are vastly different. The phenomenon is already out of the bottle. But, what if the delegate selection process was identical? Let’s examine the existing delegate selection differences first.
The GOP
By-in-large the GOP delegate selection process is considered more stream-lined due to the winner-take all caucuses or primary races, where the winner gets all of the delegates in twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia and the loser gets zero delegates - none!
There are four types of GOP delegates to the Republican National Convention.
- Elected members (each state gets three), of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
- Each state gets three delegates for every congressional district.
- Each state gets ten “at large” delegates.
- Each state gets “bonus” delegates added to their at large delegation based upon how Republican the state has voted recently.
(United States territories Puerto Rico and Guam also receive at large and RNC delegates.)
This GOP nominating process greatly decreases the chance of a brokered party nominating convention, as the differential between primary/caucus winners and losers should be too great.
- Twelve states where at large and congressional district delegates are chosen by proportional representation.
- Twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia allocate their at large and congressional district delegates on a winner-take all basis to the candidate who wins a majority or even a plurality of votes cast statewide .
- Eleven states select their delegates at state conventions or something similar.
Delegates and Alternates at the Congressional District level will be chosen between February 6, 2008 and April 30, 2008 at the delegate selection caucuses
Of the total 2,380 GOP delegates - 1,729 are formally bound (excluding Ohio, Washington, North Carolina, and the Virgin Islands), where 651 delegates are only “morally pledged.
The Democrats
The Democrats select their convention delegates utilizing “proportional representation“. This is the only permissible formula of delegate allocation under Democratic Party rules, and it essentially divides the delegates between two candidates very close to one another in a specific state’s popular vote (allocated by individual congressional districts vote results).
Proportional representation makes it very difficult to achieve a significant delegate margin or differential, especially in voting districts with an even number of delegates. In order to qualify for a delegate, a candidate has to receive at least 15% of the popular vote and then is eligible for delegates.
“Rule 11 (H)” that bound delegates to support the candidate in whose name they were elected.” The rule was subsequently changed — and this is still the 2008 language: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.” In the 2008 contest, there are 3,253 delegates and (about) 796 super-delegates; 2,026 delegates are needed to win.
The Democrats national committee with jurisdiction over the seating of convention delegates — the Credentials Committee — is one of the three standing committees as part of the national convention (the other two committees are the Rules Committee and Platform Committee).
The Democrats Credentials Committee consists of members elected on the basis of the results of state primaries and caucuses. In total, 161 of the 186 members of each standing committee are selected from states, and 20 states and the District of Columbia have only one representative on each of the committees.
The Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean under the DNC can also make 25 at-large appointments on each of the three standing committees - in which he already did early in the primary process.
When the Hunt Commission created the Democrats superdelegates in 1982, they constituted about 15 percent of all delegates; since then, their ranks have grown to include some big city mayors, former DNC chairmen, and former Democratic presidents and vice presidents. Superdelegates now constitute 20 percent of the total.
“There was a strong feeling that if we’re going to have a strong Democratic Party that has a good chance of winning the presidency, we need to have the party’s leaders involved,” the former four-term North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, who headed the commission- said.
Another influential behind-the-scenes player was former Vice President Walter Mondale, who used the new Hunt Commission superdelegate rules in 1984 to beat Sen. Gary Hart at the San Francisco National Democratic Convention.
“There were two purposes to what are now called superdelegates,” says Mark Siegel, who was counsel to the Democratic Party commission that adopted these procedures more than a quarter-century ago. “One was that these people, by virtue of their offices and positions, would intervene if the party is about to go off a cliff; the other is that the people who are deeply involved in a general election and in governance should be involved in the convention. The concept is a strong one.”
The current Democrats delegate total-to-date have Obama - 1,383 and Hillary - 1,276. Well now, lets apply the GOP winner-take-all concept used in 21 states and The District of Columbia. The delegate totals now reverse towards Clinton- 1,458 and Obama - 1,351. See table below to see how we arrived at primary leader reversal.
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