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The Popular Vote is out on DCW Site
Thoroughly frustrated by the continuing talk about the so-called popular vote last night (May 31st), which has continued today by Ickes and others, I placed a comment on the Democratic Convention Watch's Ultimate Delegate Count site (see below). The site responded by pulling its popular vote figures. Good for them!! We must now make sure that AP and other news organizations stop perpetuating the myth of the popular vote. I ask your help. This "myth" is being used to undermine the legitimacy of the Democratic nominee, which is bad news for the Party.
(I have since written another piece detailing why I believe the Clintons have responded so poorly to the DNC's decision about Michigan. Once again, it has to do with the bogus popular vote. "Why is Clinton Really Objecting to the DNC's Decision" http://msa4.wordpress.com/
See also, Al Giordano at The Field (June 1st) on this topic.
http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=1299
Mitchell Aboulafia
said...
Please do your readers and the Democratic Party a favor. Get rid of or qualify the so-called "popular vote" on your site.
First,
as Amicus insists above, and as so many of us have tried to argue over
the last several months, you can't combine apples and oranges. "The
national popular vote is a myth, or I should say, a mythical beast. It
is a chimera. You cannot generate a national popular vote from contests
that have included caucuses (which cannot produce nearly as many votes
as primaries), contests that have permitted independents to vote, as
well as states that have permitted Republican crossovers, etc."
[From "Why I Can't Stop Criticizing Hillary, yet (although I wish I could)http://msa4.wordpress.com/ ]
Second,
the DNC sent a message today about the Michigan "primary." Its delegate
compromise is meant to undermine Clinton's position on the popular vote
in Michigan. Obama had the votes at the DNC for a 50/50 split of the
delegates. He agreed to a compromise from the Michigan Democratic Party
that gave Hillary a slim majority of the delegates, but also gave him
more than he would have received from those who voted for
"uncommitted." With this decision, the DNC is saying that there is no
way that Hillary's numbers should be added to any "popular vote" total
while leaving Obama out. Or, to be absolutely clear, it doesn't make
any sense to try to manufacture popular vote totals from a state in
which one candidate wasn't on the ballot.
Third, returning the
first point, if you were to offer a popular vote total, you would need
a mechanism to translate caucus state votes into something comparable
to primary state votes. There is no agreed on formula.
Please
let's stop the myth of the popular vote. It is only going to serve to
undermine the legitimate winner of the Democratic race.
"The Popular Vote Myth (or why caucuses may be hazardous to your representation)" http://msa4.wordpress.com/page/2/
Yousri
said...
Mitchell Aboulafia said...
Please do your readers and the Democratic Party a favor. Get rid of or qualify the so-called "popular vote" on your site.
_____________________
I agree with you.
Popular Vote is taken out for good!
Comments (2)
Or we can ask Terry McAuliffe and Mandy Grunwald and the rest of Hillaryland to show us the rule where the winner of the Democratic nomination for President is selected by the "popular" vote. What page is that on?
This has nothing to do with the super delegstes exercising their "independent" judgement. It has to do with reaching the metric of delegates needed to secure the nomination, not getting the most popular vote.
It's the delegate count, stupid.
June 1, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just want to let everybody know, for historical reference, that June 1 was the day an explosion at a coal mine killed 236 in Fukuoka, Japan.
I just automatically think of June 1 as Fukuoka, Japan Coal Mine Disaster Day, in case that ever pops up in conversation and it seems inexplicable or inappropriate to you.
That's just how I remember it's June 1.
So don't freak out or make a big deal out of it if I bring it up.
June 1, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
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