As we have known for a long time, the Democratic delegate selection process is a travesty. Starting with the disenfranchising caucus system, which shuts out legions of voters from the process, to the unbalanced proportional system of awarding delegates by congressional district (which produces such perverse results like a candidate winning 60% of the vote in a district receiving the same amount of delegates and a different candidate receiving 60% of the delegates with a 50.1% of the vote in another district), to the overweighting of regions arbitrarily and haphazardly (for example, in Nevada rural district were overweighted, in Texas urban districts were overweighted), to awarding low turnout states disproportional representation to high turnout states, the entire system is a travesty of democracy.

Let me put it bluntly, anyone holding up the pledged delegate count as representing the "will of the people" is simply full of it. It does not. It thwarts the will of the people. BY DESIGN. Now we have the latest bit of evidence that the pledged delegate system is a total crock:

At some point, one hopes, Barack Obama and his supporters will start thinking about winning in November. It needs to start with seating the Florida and Michigan delegations. There are many arguments that those worried about the future Democratic primary schedule can raise about this and that and the integrity of the RULZ. I think they do not have much merit, but I am not writing here to rehash that. Why? Because a normal functioning Democratic Party would not be wasting time thinking about the 2012 primary schedule and instead would be thinking about making the 2012 primaries moot - by winning the Presidency in 2008. No one will remember or care about Donna Brazile and her silly RULZ fixations in 2016, if we win the White House in 2008.

Which brings me to Florida. Adam Smith argues it SHOULD be in play this Fall:

Shame on Alabama:

Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries. ...

Critics charge that Alabama is, in effect, paying law enforcement to skimp on food and may be rewarding sheriffs for mistreating prisoners.

"Critics charge"? We should all be critical of laws that reward the mistreatment of prisoners. Does anybody out there think this is sound public policy? (more...)

Go West Dems!

The latest Ras GE polling has both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton leading John McCain in New Mexico:

Obama 50
McCain 41

Clinton 47
McCain 41

Barack Obama will definitely defeat John McCain in New Mexico in November. Hillary Clinton can as well. Dem NM Senate candidate Tom Udall has a huge lead over his potential GOP opponents.

By Big Tent Democrat

I always am amazed that discussions of the Unity Ticket never seem to include any reasons why it MIGHT be a good idea. Thus, I must protest Bob Wright's discussion with Mickey Kaus of the Unity ticket possibility.

Their entire discussion is predicated on the assumption that, despite the fact that Democratic voters strongly support a Unity Ticket, it is bad for Obama to have Clinton on the ticket. I think the polling has clearly said otherwise. I have made arguments for why I think it is almost essential that Obama pick Clinton as his running mate. No such arguments are addressed in most elite pundit discussions of a Unity Ticket.

More . . .

Bump and Update(TL): Mass General Hospital is expected to make a statement shortly.

CNN is reporting. Let's hope he is ok. Our thoughts are with you Senator Kennedy.

Update (TL): News report here.

Hillary Clinton is running this ad in Oregon:

It seems a good one to me.

By Big Tent Democrat

The normally sharp James Joyner plays dumb in order to take a swipe at Hillary Clinton:

The “Electoral College” argument, though, is interesting. On its face, it’s silly. The Democratic Party has a set of rules in place for how it selects its nominee. Those rules don’t at all resemble winner-take-all model mirrored on the Electoral College. Consequently, her opponents didn’t run their campaigns as if that were the case. To now claim that this is how the race should be decided is brazen.

Joyner's point is silly. Clinton is arguing to the superdelegates who can vote for whomever they like. Clinton is arguing she has a better chance to win in November. It is silly to argue that this argument is somehow out of bounds. She may be wrong. You can argue against her points. But to call the argument silly is, well, silly. Joyner himself seems to recognize this:

Remember the heady days of Obama Mania when he was going to compete in all 50 states and change politics as we know it? Well, we know those pipe dreams are over. It is now fashionable in the Obama blogs to discuss the grief stages for Hillary Clinton supporters as she is very unlikely to be the Democratic nominee. I am struck by how that process is playing with Obama supporters' faith in Obama's ability to compete in 50 states. First there was denial that primary results meant anything for the general election. When that became too silly a position to maintain, they began lashing out in anger at people who pointed out Obama's difficulties in important swing states. Now we have reached the bargaining stage. Charles Blow bargains for Obama's electability in today's NYTimes:

It's embarrassing to see that these women, who call themselves "White Women for Obama" are from my home state.

[Janice]Francis and two of her friends, Elana Hanson and Pam Clausen, wore T-shirts they designed and sold that said "ColoradObama." Francis and Hanson are trying to get elected as delegates from the 5th District.

..."We're white women for Obama," Clausen said.
"Oprah's the one who got us turned on to him," Francis said.

There are 70 pages of Obama wannabe delegates and 46 pages of Hillary hopefuls, 1,500 people in all, competing for 12 delegate slots and 2 alternate positions. Hopefully these three won't be among them.

More...

Pleasant thoughts to ponder as we enter the weekend:

President George W. Bush is "absolutely radioactive" and Republicans will suffer widespread election losses in November unless they distance themselves from him, said Representative Tom Davis, a former leader of the party's House campaign committee. ... Bush is the face of the party and congressional Republicans are "seen as just in lockstep with him on everything," Davis said.

Republicans would lose 20 to 25 House seats if the election were held today, Davis said. If Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is seen by voters as "Bush III" he will lose by 20 percentage points, said Davis, who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1998 to 2002.

Share your own pleasant thoughts in the comments.

Taylor Marsh has a podcast of the Hillary Clinton blogger call this afternoon.

Clinton Town Hall in Oregon.

J is out for a while and I have to go myself for the next few hours. TChris might be around. Keep it nice please/

This is an Open Thread.

Comments now closed.