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2016 Postmortem

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Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
Wed May 25, 2016, 06:04 PM May 2016

Will Bernie give back delegates to conform to Washington primary vote totals? Clinton 54% [View all]



http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/1857/11/washington-primary-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/484313/?preview=Sr5dG80pNO20P61h4ABEZNMQwGo&utm_source=atlfb


Washington voters delivered a bit of bad news for Bernie Sanders’s political revolution on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton won the state’s Democratic primary, symbolically reversing the outcome of the state’s Democratic caucus in March where Sanders prevailed as the victor. The primary result won’t count for much since delegates have already been awarded based on the caucus. (Sanders won 74 delegates, while Clinton won only 27.) But Clinton’s victory nevertheless puts Sanders in an awkward position.

Sanders has styled himself as a populist candidate intent on giving a voice to voters in a political system in which, as he describes it, party elites and wealthy special-interest groups exert too much control. As the primary election nears its end, Sanders has railed against Democratic leaders for unfairly intervening in the process, a claim he made in the aftermath of the contentious Nevada Democratic convention earlier this month. He has also criticized superdelegates—elected officials and party leaders who can support whichever candidate they chose—for effectively coronating Clinton.

As Sanders makes those arguments, he runs up against a few inconvenient realities. He trails Clinton in the popular-vote count and has performed well in caucuses, which consistently witness depressed voter turnout relative to primary elections. What happened in Washington is a painful reminder of this for the campaign: Far more voters took part in Washington’s Democratic primary than its state caucus, preliminary counts indicate. Roughly 230,000 people participated in the Democratic caucus, The Stranger reported in March. In contrast, more than 660,000 Democratic votes had been tallied in the primary as of Tuesday, according to The Seattle Times. That lopsided reality makes it more difficult for Sanders to argue that his candidacy represents the will of the people.


But based on Washington caucuses, Bernie was awarded 74 delegates and Clinton 27. But if you go by the Washington primary popular vote Clinton won 54% to Bernie's 46%. So if you go by the primary popular vote the delegates should be awarded, Clinton: 55, Sanders: 46.


So, will Bernie bow to the voters and give Clinton the delegates she should get based on the vote of the people of Washington?

Ha-ha-HA. DON'T BET ON IT!

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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bernie and his crowd only believe in the will of the people when it benefits THEM nt msongs May 2016 #1
Why should he? That wasn't how the Washington vote was set-up. highprincipleswork May 2016 #2
This mythology May 2016 #14
This message was self-deleted by its author artislife May 2016 #32
Nope, what part of this primary is non binding did you miss nadinbrzezinski May 2016 #3
Clinton and her party machine were the only players in the beauty contest so NO. Skwmom May 2016 #4
Lol. ... Ridiculous! KPN May 2016 #5
Washington primary votes are 'artificial' ... a new kind of vote suppression? . if they're not 4 our Bill USA May 2016 #7
Wow???? Really??? Did it count as a primary vote??? KPN May 2016 #19
You really should read the OP before commenting....see excerpt: Bill USA May 2016 #24
Lol!!! I did. You really should KPN May 2016 #30
Of course he won't, but remember to cite this the next time a Sandersfan screams about Tarc May 2016 #6
The State result is determined by the caucus, that's the case because the Democratic Party Bluenorthwest May 2016 #12
The point was missed, I believe Tarc May 2016 #15
This message was self-deleted by its author silvershadow May 2016 #8
The rules are rigged against Hillary. woolldog May 2016 #9
Um, no. They are just the rules we all agreed to. nt silvershadow May 2016 #16
The Democratic Party sued the State of Washington to demand they be allowed to use a caucus Bluenorthwest May 2016 #10
If you are going to complain that "the rules are the rules," then you can't really complain when the BzaDem May 2016 #11
No, but this incident illustrates perfectly why caucuses should be totally banned starting in 2020. tritsofme May 2016 #13
Yup. Agschmid May 2016 #18
Absolutely. It's staggering just looking at the numbers for Washington: R B Garr May 2016 #23
No. It's non-binding Commander Keen May 2016 #17
Sure. Of course, tho, this is about Bernie's principles! Hortensis May 2016 #29
Interesting! He definitely should give them back to conform to the will of the people! R B Garr May 2016 #20
Primaries are a lot easier to rig than caucuses Time for change May 2016 #21
You are assuming that the WA primary would have the same results if it was binding. Vattel May 2016 #22
so you want to replace counts of actual people with nonbinding numbers from hackable machines? GreatGazoo May 2016 #25
This message was self-deleted by its author NowSam May 2016 #26
This is old and tired aspirant May 2016 #27
Google "Non-binding primary" there, Einstein. 99Forever May 2016 #28
Exhibition games don't count. Only the real ones. ThePhilosopher04 May 2016 #31
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