Ted Devine contradicts Bernie Sanders and Jeff Weaver: superdelegates should follow will of voters
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/04/21/the-end-is-coming-a-top-sanders-adviser-hints-at-a-quiet-finish/
But now senior Sanders adviser Tad Devine has telegraphed a much more likely endgame — one that would be a whole lot quieter and less contentious. In an interview with Rachel Maddow, Devine was asked whether this strategy is in sync with Sanders’s high-minded campaign, and he answered, in part:
“The key test is succeeding with voters. In 2008 I wrote a piece that they published in the New York Times right after Super Tuesday, and I argued that super-delegates should wait, should look and listen to what the voters do, and follow the will of the voters. And I can tell you, I got a lot of push-back from the Clinton campaign at the time, when I published that piece.
“But I believe that today — that our super-delegates, that our party leaders, should let the voters speak first. And I think if they do, all the way through the end of the voting, that will strengthen our party, and certainly strengthen our hand — if we succeed with voters between now and June.”
Note that “if.” In one sense, Devine is basically calling on Democrats to be patient and allow the voting to continue until the end. (I’ve argued that there are many good reasons for Sanders to keep going until all the votes have been counted.) But Devine is also clearly indicating that the super-delegates should not contradict the will of the voters, once they’ve all had a chance to speak.
It’s true, by the way, that Devine did argue this in a 2008 New York Times piece. It’s right here! Devine wrote that super-delegates should “ratify the results of the primaries and caucuses in all 50 states,” by supporting the “candidate who has proved to be the strongest in the contest that matters,” which will be determined by “listening to the voters.”
Now, it’s true that Devine did qualify his remarks later in the interview with Maddow, by saying that popular vote totals are potentially misleading in the sense that Sanders has won a lot of smaller caucus states, and noting that if Sanders comes very close in pledged delegates, it would be different than trailing among them by a large margin. But he also said this: “let’s see who’s won the states, let’s see who’s won the delegates, let’s see where we are in June, and I think then we’ll know what to do.”
Mixed messages coming out of the Sanders campaign. Who will prevail, Weaver or Devine?
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