Dean To Democratic Superdelegates: Enough Is Enough (By July 1st)
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has put a proposed deadline on the day when Superdelegates should make their decisions and get behind one of the party’s two bitterly warring Presidential candidate wannabes: make your decision by July 1st:
A potential game-changer from CBS News and “The Early Show.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 — the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party to decide between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before the Democratic National Convention in late August.
Harry Smith asked if after the nominating contests end with the South Dakota and Montana primaries on June 3, “Do you want the superdelegates to have some sort of vote immediately so that you’ll know months in advance of the convention what the outcome is?”
Dean replied: “Well, I think the superdelegates have already been weighing in. I think that there’s 800 of them and 450 of them have already said who they’re for. I’d like the other 350 to say who they’re at some point between now and the first of July so we don’t have to take this into the convention.”
An aide explains that July 1 is not a drop-dead deadline: “The point is before the convention, ideally in June.”
So it is NOT a drop-dead deadline: they can reach the decision sooner. Which means after July 1st Dean considers it either drop dead or I’ll-wish-you-drop-dead.
And, indeed, if the increasingly divisive battle goes all the way to the elections there are growing fears that the Democrats could drop dead at the ballot box in November when a very much alive and smiling Senator John McCain could win a term that let’s the GOP keep the White House for another four (or eight) years.
Why the sense of urgency?
For one thing, there are polls that indicate roughly 20 percent of the supporters of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would vote for McCain if their candidate doesn’t get the nomination. Feelings — and divisions — are increasingly intense.
And then there’s the fact that McCain is now skating around the world, raising money, mending his fences with conservatives and being photographed and video-ed in many settings that make him look Presidential and more forward-looking that the claw-’em-up contest now drawing blood on the Democratic side.
Dean has come under increasing criticism for not taking a firm stand in trying to bring the contest to an end. But CAN he?
In the end, it’s up to Obama or Clinton to throw in the towel.
And there are no signs that either or them plan to throw in the towel.
They’re too busy throwing towels at each other.
Cartoon by Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com
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10 Responses to “Dean To Democratic Superdelegates: Enough Is Enough (By July 1st)”
It is fashionable to cast Obama and Clinton as equally culpable for their public conflict. But it seems to me that Obama generally is less inflammatory while still trying to point out distinctions with Sen Clinton.
I suspect that enough voters are recognizing this, to push Obama into a larger lead in polls.
If the two Dem candidates had any sense, they could both keep their rivalry alive and defuse the defection to McCain problem.
They could continue arguing about who has the best health care plan, etc.
They, could spend more time emphasizing what unites Democrats.
Why is neither talking about the appointment of Supreme Court Justices, for example?
Three months??? Three more months!!!
Unbelievable. Suddenly, a year that the GOP saw as a nightmare…is becoming a GOP wet-dream!
McCain's first ad is out today defining his American hero creds. He is now on a fundraising tour.
Meanwhile, 3 more months of: Wright videos; HRC memories under fire; more Michelle Obama foot-in-mouth expressions of her strong feelings for America; Obama getting hit with the bathtub and shower stall along with the kitchen sink….
All we need now is Bill Clinton caught on tape with some big haired hussy to make the primary season complete.
Oh yeah, and some talk about issues…whatever they are….
If I had started to follow the primries only recently , I would agree with Paul Silver.
Hillary has been more aggressive, has been guilty of over-reach and bad mistakes.
What irks me, though, is that she was portrayed as such long before she ever opened her mouth for the first time. Her back was pushed against the ropes the minute she dared to approach the ring.
There is something horribly unfair about how she has been assessed. One day she is too soft, the next she is too hard. And so one. There is nothing that she did and said that wasn't followed by nasty interpretations.
That being said, we can't relive yesterday..
Today, she is not in a good place. If her only defense is to become more aggressive, then that will, indeedl hurt Democrats.
Democracy is a very messy business. Participants are not always make sensible. decisons.
Bad decsisions are often backed by the public, not only candidates.
Marlowecan is dead on. I mean really, July 1???????? What is Dean thinking??? Good grief, one more month would be MORE than enough time. The D's are going to blow it at this rate, and the sad thing is, they won't understand why it happened, and they won't learn from it either. JFC……………….. Sorry, I really feel like I've lowered my standards enough during the past decade. Ralph is looking better all the time, he won't win, but at least I'll have my dignity.
IReading JSpemcer's comment really brought me up short. There are such confilcitng principles involved here.
After criticizing the R's for theri lock-step march to victory, something that stifles indidividuality and moderation IMO, do I now switch cars in mid race and join the winning-is-all parade?
JSpencer said: “What is Dean thinking???”
You are totally right .
When I first saw news of Dean's so-called “ultimatum” here at TMV I actually thought it was one of Joe's occasional comic jabs!
But no. Usually the two party nominees would be taking a breather now and retooling for the Conventions. Instead it is going to be daily wackiness…HRC and Obama bloggers going at it daily….
Runasim said: ” lock-step march to victory, something that stifles indidividuality and moderation IMO”
Well, you gotta look hard to find moderation in the HRC-Obama saga.
I don't have a dog in this race, but personally I am tired of the daily “scandals” and mock “outrage” about this and that.
I wonder when is the point of no return reached…when the damage becomes fatal to the Democrats? The arrogance of the Democrats have led them to ignore this to date, and assume they could elect a “yellow dog” in the fall.
The last time things went on so long for the Democrats was Kennedy-Carter in 1980. And that was in a less mediated and intense age. But we all know how that one ended for the Democrats.
runasim, I think we need to ask the purpose of the primary season. I think the primary season at its essence serves two purposes. First, it is a time for voters to get to know the candidates. Second voters express their choice for their party's candidate (and if there are cross-over voters who support the other party's candidate, that's even better). The purpose, of course, is to choose the strongest candidate to advance to the general election.
The first piece- learning about the candidates- has been going on since the beginning of 2007. Perhaps not all candidates had declared their candidacy at that time, but nonetheless, the process started at that time, a full year before the actual voting began.
The second piece, choosing which candidate to advance to the general election, has passed it's time of being useful. The Dems have narrowed the field from eight to two and those two are locked in a bitter fight. One (Obama) has been ahead of the other (Hillary) for most of this primary season, once the actual voting began and voters finally got a chance at the ballot box.
The Republicans' races in the primary season were interesting (and fun). Republicans were split on the candidates (one day one candidate was favored, the next day someone else was favored). They finally ended up with McCain. McCain may not be the first choice among the religious right of the Republican base, but the religious conservatives don't make up the majority of the Republican party.
The Democrats had a long time to consider their candidates and the weaker candidates have been winnowed from the race.
Given that the voters have narrowed the Dem field down to two strong candidates and that there are only eight states yet to vote, which won't push Hillary ahead (unless she does better than she's done so far), and given further that this race is only bitterly dividing the Dems, and not serving any useful purpose (for the Dems), I think it's time for the Dems to rally around one candidate.
I think both the Dems and the Repubs had good races and now is the time to move forward. Otherwise the Dems will continue to engage in internecine warfare. War always comes at a cost.
Anyway, I don't see how Dean, by proposing the superdelegates make up their mind by July 1, is a leader. If he's proposing a deadline, he obviously wants this to end before the convention the following month. But with all the races out of the way at the beginning of June, I think we'd have a pretty clear indication which candidate is in the lead come July 1.
If Dean really were serious about uniting the party, he would call for the superdelegates to make a decision by May 1 at the latest.
I guess Dean doesn't want to alienate the eight states yet to vote. In which case he should just keep his mouth shut. Having a July 1 deadline doesn't solve the mess the Dems are in now.
Another way of thinking about it: we're roughly 2 1/2 months into the primary season and Dean's proposal for a decision to be made would put the outcome another 2 1/2 months away. We've had 42 states vote so far, and only 8 more to go.
I would rather not have this increasingly bitter fight go on for the same amount of time we've already been through when there are only a handful of states, one candidate is ahead (and barring a miracle Hillary won't overtake Obama) and at this point it's clear that the Dem. Party can only continue to go downhill from here.
My guess as to what will happen is that after PA and NC, Clinton admits that she cannot catch up and appeals for party unity. This likely will be moved along by more superdelegates seeing the writing on the wall and either declaring for Obama, weighing in privately with Clinton or both.