Oklahoma Democratic Primary

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

My opinion is that Terry, not being a Democrat, should not have been allowed on the ballot, but since he was on the ballot, he deserves the delegates he won.

Terry is an awful person, but he's, as far as I know, a registered Democrat now.

[Oakvale]

First of all, yeah, what Badger said - I don't really know what the point of this discussion is since it's not like they're going to have a formal delegate count to nominate Obama anyway.

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Undemocratic party here we come!

Terry did better in OK than Paul.

Uhuh. Again, there's no reason to seat the delegates of a fake Democrat running so he can show creepy ads during the Superbowl.

My personal opinion is that having a primary with token joke opposition is a complete waste of time and money, and shouldn't have happened. Like the way the GOP shouldn't have bothered with a primary for Bush in 2004, or the Democrats with Clinton in '96, etc, etc, etc.

[Taft]

First of all, yeah, what Badger said - I don't really know what the point of this discussion is since it's not like they're going to have a formal delegate count to nominate Obama anyway.

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Undemocratic party here we come!

Terry did better in OK than Paul.

Uhuh. Again, there's no reason to seat the delegates of a fake Democrat running so he can show creepy ads during the Superbowl.

My personal opinion is that having a primary with token joke opposition is a complete waste of time and money, and shouldn't have happened. Like the way the GOP shouldn't have bothered with a primary for Bush in 2004, or the Democrats with Clinton in '96, etc, etc, etc.

The problem is that the state often mandates a primary in their law.  A good example of this is Missouri, where the primary was in the law even though neither side was using it for delegate selection (or Michigan, where the GOP used it but the Dems didn't because of party rules).  Often, this is just a case of a state holding both primaries since it costs very little to do two primaries at the same time when you already have to do one.

Mind you, some states will can their primary if there's only one candidate on the ballot (VA, for example), but the primary still happens if two or more folks file.  The best thing a party can do is simply not "use" the primary for delegate selection.

(Actually, GA, you do raise a point for consideration: If a nomination is uncontested, why should taxpayers subsidize the convention?  Obviously, the parties will want their funding, but if a nomination is not and never was contested in any meaningful way* then the subsidy becomes pointless.  Of course, this raises the issue of a "friendly" straw candidate being floated to clear the relevant legal hurdles, such as close ally filing a stand-in favorite son slate in one state.)


*I can at least buy the point that these things take months to plan and that there are plenty of cycles where it was at least theoretically possible to get a down-to-the-convention fight.

[King]

Terry's delegates will not be seated and it won't be controversial. This isn't the first time a joke the party doesn't want involved has picked up delegates. Lyndon LaRouche did in both 96 and 00, I believe, and was awarded neither time. 

[RI]

Terry's delegates will not be seated and it won't be controversial. This isn't the first time a joke the party doesn't want involved has picked up delegates. Lyndon LaRouche did in both 96 and 00, I believe, and was awarded neither time. 

Or whenever Paul gets any delegates.

[Mr. Morden]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/randall-terry-loses-his-delegate-to-the-democratic-convention/#

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