| This question is raised in an article on the NJ page of the Campaigns & Elections website.
The theory presented is that if no major candidate enters the Democratic pool of candidate by November 1, there is going to be a significant amount of buyer's remorse amongst current Clinton supporters as the inevitability question becomes an electability question, which will dramatically shrink the polling gap that currently exists between Clinton and the other candidates, especially Barack Obama and John Edwards and particularly in early primary states.
With so many states voting between the beginning of January and February 5 and each of the front-running candidates having strengths and weaknesses in different states, it is reasonable to believe that if Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina do not produce a clear-cut winner going into the February 5 primaries, no single candidate would win enough delegates to claim the nomination on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next summer. |
| If that happens, what happens next? The most obvious, but unlikely in my opinion, scenario is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would cut a deal with the person possessing the most delegates taking the Presidential nomination and the other becoming that person's VP. But a New York-Illinois or Illinois-New York ticket isn't the most effective combination from an electoral math point of view and both Clinton and Obama know this.
Will Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and Bill Richardson have enough delegates between them collectively to put either Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or John Edwards over the top? Since John Edwards probably has no interest in being a VP candidate again, what else could he get for his delegates? If he is true to his principles, he would pledge them to Obama, who is undoubtedly the candidate who would be most likely to share his vision on many, if not, most of the issues.
Thus, if a brokered convention ensues and as the candidates wrangle amongst themselves and their delegations between the first and second ballots in an effort to cut a deal that will achieve a compromise candidate, the true consensus candidate, Al Gore, will hopefully have a small group of delegates on the floor of the convention, working the floor to build support for him, while bringing about order from such chaos.
Draft Gore NJ is committed to giving Democratic voters in each of New Jersey's 20 delegate districts the opportunity to vote for Al Gore on February 5 by running a full state of uncomitted delegate and alternate candidates, who are committed to voting for Al Gore at the Democratic National Convention, whether he is an active candidate or not. If you have any interest in becoming a Draft Gore NJ delegate or alternate candidate or supporting this effort in any way, please go to the Draft Gore NJ website. |
