Nebraska Caucuses Violate the "Spirit" of DNC Rules

by andrewalker08 [courtesy of MyDD]

Interesting debate bumped, jerome

On the front page of MyDD today, there are some who are touting the win of Scott Kleeb over Tony Raimondo in the Nebraska Democratic U.S. Senate primary [Source:  5/13/2008 MyDD blog "Scott Kleeb Wins Nebraska Democratic Senate Primary!"].

Let me begin by congratulating Scott Kleeb on becoming the Democratic Party of Nebraska's U.S. Senate nominee.  I wish him much luck in November.

Now, look at the vote totals for that primary...

...In the U.S. Senate race, more than 90,000 people participated in that Democratic primary.  Just to put that number into perspective, in the February 9th Nebraska Democratic Presidential Caucuses, less than half of the people (38,571) who voted in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary participated in the caucuses [Source:  2/10/2008 Nebraska Democratic Party 2008 Presidential Caucus Results].

To put things into further perspective, if Nebraska had held a primary instead of a caucus to choose its national convention delegates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would have been virtually tied.  Below are the results of Nebraska's Democratic Presidential Preference Primary:

Democrat - President  

Hillary Clinton - 43,614 or 47%
Mike Gravel -  3,864 or 4%
Barack Obama 46,279 or 49%

Source:  5/13/2008 Unofficial Nebraska Presidential Preference Primary Results

Now you know I've got to pull out my trusty Democratic National Convention Delegate Selection Rule book and cite y'all some rules.  It's what I do.

Rule 2.A

Participation in the delegate selection process shall be open to all voters who wish to participate as Democrats.

Rule 3.A

All official Party meetings and events related to the national convention delegate selection process, including caucuses, conventions, committee meetings, filing dates, and Party enrollment periods, shall be scheduled for dates, times and public places which would be most likely to encourage the participation of all Democrats, and must begin and end at reasonable hours.

Rule 3.B

All such meetings or events which are the first meeting or event in the delegate selection process shall be scheduled at times and dates which are uniform throughout the state, except where it is established by the state party and approved by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee that such uniform times and dates would significantly reduce participation in the delegate selection process.

The short summary of these rules is that the Democratic Party of the United States A.) wants the delegate selection process to be open to all persons who wish to be known as Democrats; and B.) expressly prohibits the scheduling of delegate selection meetings that would "significantly reduce participation in the delegate selection process."

Now you tell me...with 38,571 Democrats participating in the Nebraska presidential caucuses and 93,757 Democrats participating in the Nebraska presidential preference primary, which method A.) opens the process to all persons wishing to be known as Democrats; B.) encourages the participation of all Democrats; and C.) does not significantly reduce participation in the delegate selection process.

Now I know what the 20,000 screaming Obama-maniacs would say. They'd say that rules are rules and Sen. Obama won the Nebraska caucuses.

But I would suggest that when more people participate in a so-called "meaningless" primary that doesn't count than participated in caucuses that did count, we know which process encourages the participation of all Democrats and which process allows a candidate to "game the system" in his favor.

Tags: Nebraska (all tags)