Replies

I guess I need to find out who the 9 candidates are for the 13th district, and figure out what they’re saying. I’ve voted in nine presidential primaries before (some were slam dunks for an incumbent) but I had no idea the delegates could vote against whoever won their district. I guess I just never paid that much attention. Shame on me.

As I said in a previous post, I’m not one of the people who thinks it’s cheating or stealing, or shenanigans if a candidate is more clever at gaming the system. If candidates wants to get the Republican nomination, and run as a Republican, they have to accept the GOP rules.

Having said that, I do wish voters knew how it really works (as I’m finding out), and revolted, either form a new party that was more accountable to voters, or ran without a party affiliation. Delegates should be bound to vote for the candidate that won the plurality in their district, or state if it’s a winner take all. If a candidate drops out, the delegates should be bound to the runner up. The business of multiple ballots and unbound delegates and insisting on a majority instead of a plurality just provides an opportunity for party elites to manipulate the system rather than bring accountable to the voters.

In the general election, the electoral college delegates are bound to the winner of the popular vote in the state, either winner take all (49 states and DC), or proportionally (two states).

GOP can do what they want, but I would bet that well over 90% of voters do not know how the primary process really works, and if they did, they would not like it.

The normal process is that primaries yield a clear winner as time goes on. Everything connected with delegates just becomes housekeeping.

We’re at crunch time for Trump. In 2012, when Romney looked like the winner but didn’t yet have enough committed delegates, he rolled up a number of primary wins of 65-70%. In 2008, McCain had it wrapped up in March. The fact that Trump supporters have a high proportion of absolute fanatics does not cover up the fact that he’s a weak candidate, at least in the primaries. He might have a style ideal for a general election though.