LAT: Democrats fear an ugly end to race
Without a clear-cut delegate leader, party activists worry the outcome will turn off the losing side's voters.
By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 6, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Leading Democrats scrambled Wednesday to prevent the closest, most riveting presidential contest in decades from tearing the party apart, as the odds rose that neither Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Barack Obama could clinch the nomination without angering large blocs of voters. Anxiety within the party swelled after Clinton's victories Tuesday staved off elimination and gave her fresh momentum, yet did little to eat into Obama's lead among delegates -- the people who will formally pick the nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August....
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Frustrated by the impasse, two prominent Clinton supporters said the only fair resolution might be to place both Clinton and Obama on the ticket, though one would have to renounce presidential ambitions and stand for vice president. Thus far, neither has shown any interest in the No. 2 job....
Even if she strings together victory after victory in the coming months, Clinton is not likely to net enough delegates to draw even with Obama. That is because party rules award delegates proportionally according to vote totals. So even the loser in any given contest can pick up a respectable number of delegates. Clinton would get a dramatic boost if the Michigan and Florida results counted toward her total. By some estimates, she would net about 120 delegates based on her strong victories in the two states. Yet that strategy is a risky one....If black voters who have supported Obama think he lost the nomination because the rules of the contest were unfairly changed, the backlash could be damaging, some civil rights activists said....
An Obama victory could split the party in a different way. Like Clinton, the Illinois senator is likely to need the votes of Democratic superdelegates -- party activists and elected officials who are free to back any candidate. Suspicion among Clinton voters that Obama courted superdelegates through backroom deals could upset female and Latino voters loyal to the former first lady.
For now, the party's focus seems to be Florida and Michigan. Some leading Democrats would like to see another election in those states or perhaps a compromise. "The only way you could make it work is if both candidates agree on how to divide up those two delegations," said Leon Panetta, a Clinton supporter who was chief of staff in Bill Clinton's White House. "Both campaigns would have to agree on a formula. On the other hand, if it's a fight -- and let's assume Hillary should win -- (Obama supporters) will be very angry that somehow they were robbed."
Panetta said a better solution might be a shared ticket....
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-delegates6mar06,0,7199969.story
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