WASHINGTON — The unrelenting contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has put the focus on what used to be overlooked details of the presidential nominating process.
One of those details? Nominating contests in U.S. territories.
People in places like Puerto Rico, who can't vote in November's presidential election, can vote for the delegates sent to both the Republican and the Democratic national conventions.
When a contender locks up the presidential nomination in March, as Democrat John Kerry did four years ago, no one much notices primaries in American Samoa or Puerto Rico.
But in a close contest, every delegate vote matters.
Underscoring the significance of next weekend's Puerto Rico primary, Clinton flew to the island last weekend. And former president Bill Clinton is campaigning there this week.
On Sunday, according to Mike Memoli of NBC News and the National Journal, the former first lady told one crowd in Puerto Rico, "This primary next Sunday is one of the most important votes you will cast. You will get to help pick the next president of the United States. Someday I hope that regardless of status you're able to help vote for the president of the United States in the general election."
In theory, delegates' votes from American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands could decide who the presidential nominees are. And this fact has left some of our readers scratching their heads.
Can vote now, but not in November
Why is it that people in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are allowed to elect the delegates who choose the nominees, even if those voters aren't eligible to cast ballots in the presidential election?
Here's the short answer: each political party has decided to give people in the U.S. territories a role in the nominating process.
This decision isn't governed by federal statute or by the Constitution but rather by party rules.
"What is most unique in our American democracy is that the Republican and Democratic parties, the leadership and the members, have decided to give U.S. citizens and those living in the U.S. territories a chance to participate in the process," said Eni Faleomavaega, the delegate who represents American Samoa in the House of Representatives.
Faleomavaega has endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination.
"We participate and we always have for many, many years," said Madeleine Bordallo, the delegate who represents Guam in the House. "I've been a (Democratic) national committeewoman for Guam since 1964. So we participate in the convention's selection of the president and vice president, but we don't vote for the president in the final election."
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But Puerto Rico has a lode of 63 delegate votes, nearly twice as many as South Dakota and Montana combined. Those two states vote next Tuesday and are the very last Democratic contests of the long primary season.