There Is No 'Nuclear Option' For Hillary To Seize The Nomination At The Dem Convention

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/election08/84493

There Is No 'Nuclear Option' for Hillary to Seize the Nomination at the Dem Convention

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted May 5, 2008.

The speculation that Hillary's campaign might try to override the voting process to get the nomination ignores DNC rules.

The presidential campaign has entered a new phase, where reports alleging how Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) could win the nomination -- apart from winning the delegates or the nationwide popular vote among Democrats -- are emerging in the national media.

Take the most recent example, from The Huffington Post, entitled, "Clinton Camp Says It Will Use The Nuclear Option." The website's headline is not referring to what Clinton may or may not do, if elected president, to Iran if it attacks Israel with nuclear weapons. It is referring to a report by Thomas B. Edsall, a very respected reporter, on the scenario involving the seating of Michigan and Florida delegations at the party's convention.

As most people know, those two states were stripped of their delegates after breaking party rules and holding early nominating contests.

Edsall writes, "with at least 50 percent of the Democratic Party's 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee committed to Clinton, her backers could -- when the committee meets at the end of this month -- try to ram through a decision to seat the disputed 210-member Florida and 156-member delegations. Such a decision would give Clinton an estimated 55 or more delegates than Obama, according to Clinton campaign operatives."

The problems with this report -- and other speculative pieces like it -- is that the Rules and Bylaws Committee is not the last stop in the DNC committee process on the question of seating Florida and Michigan delegates. The DNC Credentials Committee is, and there, according to members interviewed throughout the nominating season, many delegates seem to believe following the party's rules -- i.e., winning delegates state by state -- is paramount, as is respecting the primary season's popular vote winner.

In other words, there is a bigger picture and more to the process than the next hurdle in the horse race coverage, namely, the Rules Committee's meeting on May 31.

"Any issues surrounding the seating of delegates will be addressed by the DNC's RBC (Rules and Bylaws Committee) and/or the Convention's Credentials Committee -- though no formal agenda has been set yet for the RBC meeting," said Natalie Wyeth, Democratic national Convention Committee press secretary, in an e-mail Monday. "Yes, RBC meets in late May and the Cred Cmte (Credentials Committee) won't meet until later in the summer."

In fact, some of the delegates on the Credential Committee -- including 25 appointed by DNC Chairman Howard Dean -- are growing tired of the Clinton campaign's efforts to create new goal posts by which to judge the candidate's fitness for the nomination.

"The Credentials Committee is going to be the final word," said a committee member who didn't want to be named. The committee is comprised of representatives from each state plus the DNC chairman's appointees.

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[2rth2pwr]

1. Nothing unfair or nuclear about using the rules that are in place to win.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Refusing to accept the outcome and trying to force a rule change

prior to or at the convention would be a massively destructive move that would likely end our chances to capture the white house in 2008. But that doesn't actually bother you, does it?

[2rth2pwr]

3. It would bother me if we lost because we were so stubborn as to nominate

Obama based on the results of primaries and caucuses that happened before the country found out about his spiritual life and his elitism.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Right. You don't give a damn about november.

Nor about the actual primary results. We will see where this all is tomorrow, but I suspect you already know how this is going to play out and are rationalizing your support for a final burn the bridges effort by Clinton to overturn the results.

[WyLoochka]

7. "Elite" is a code word used

by right wingers when addressing uneducated voters in order to provoke resentment toward people who know more than they do because they took the time to go to college.

It has long been part of the Democratic Party platform to make it possible for more people to actually go to college, which would result in more "elites," as defined by right wingers. The code word "elite," copied from the Gingrich-Rove Book of Definitions is entirely inappropriate to use on "Democratic Underground."

Why are you and your candidate, as Democrats, participating in the long term scheme by the right wing to dumb down of America?

Bill and Hill themselves are "elites" who seem lately to want to lock the doors behind them, instead of opening them up further as Barack Obama stands for.

[cali]

12. I'm sorry that you're going to be bothered. Hope you can get over it.

[GihrenZabi]

13. Baaaa!

Perhaps, as one of the sheep, you'll understand if I speak your language to you...

Calling a man who grew up without a father and who worked in the trenches after law school "elitist" just makes you sound like an idiot and a Hillbot.

Get a clue. It's voters like you who may cost us the election - because you don't think.

[habitual]

14. wow, talk about parroting talking points.

you've got it down!!!!

of course, hillary is not elite..... nooooo. she is just a regular folk!!!

this i think would be why she is losing. she has lost touch with reality and moved into full-on pander mode.

[HooptieWagon]

10. Then why does Hillary keep trying to change the rules?

[w13rd0]

4. Her campaigns willingness...

...to use something they refer to as the "nuclear option" against another Democrat, and against the Party itself, is one of the many reasons she just isn't qualified to be our nominee.

[babylonsister]

5. Rec'd. That's my understanding as well. All bluster. nt

[phrigndumass]

8. Speculation is high because the process is confusing to some

It's nice to see articles written that actually clarify the process instead of further complicating it in the minds of non-processy-type folks.

K/R

[Vinca]

9. There's no way in hell the DNC will allow Obama's million and a half

donors to get away. They'll make fast work of the "nuclear option."

[WeDidIt]

11. Yes, there is a nuclear option

The nuclear option is mutually assured destruction. Have the R&BC seat the delegates and force it all the way to the floor. It would destroy Obama's chances of winning.

On top of that, the Credentials Committee has not been seated yet, so we really don't know what the makeup of that committee is. Some of the Dean 25 are definitely associated with Clinton.