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2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)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 Sanderss political revolution on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton won the states Democratic primary, symbolically reversing the outcome of the states Democratic caucus in March where Sanders prevailed as the victor. The primary result wont count for much since delegates have already been awarded based on the caucus. (Sanders won 74 delegates, while Clinton won only 27.) But Clintons 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 superdelegateselected officials and party leaders who can support whichever candidate they chosefor 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 Washingtons 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!
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Will Bernie give back delegates to conform to Washington primary vote totals? Clinton 54% [View all]
Bill USA
May 2016
OP
bernie and his crowd only believe in the will of the people when it benefits THEM nt
msongs
May 2016
#1
Washington primary votes are 'artificial' ... a new kind of vote suppression? . if they're not 4 our
Bill USA
May 2016
#7
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 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
Interesting! He definitely should give them back to conform to the will of the people!
R B Garr
May 2016
#20
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