I keep hearing on CNN that if John Edwards wins a decent amount of delegates, that he could have power at the convention to be a peace maker or a king maker. Can someone explain this to me?
Thanks!
Thanks everybody! It makes a lot of sense now! Sorry for spelling democratic wrong!
The theory here is that if Hillary and Obama each have nearly enough delegates to win, but neither actually has enough, Edwards might possibly be able to have a big impact by throwing his delegates to one candidate.
Nice theory, but very unlikely. Edwards probably won’t have many delegates – he’ll have to draw 15 – 20% to have an impact, and he only got 4% in Nevada. Since it’s clear he has no chance to win, his voto isn’t likely to go up much. (If Edwards was able to stay in the low 20s as some polls showed before Iowa, this could have happened.)
It’s much more likely that, if neither Hillary or Obama gains a decisive margin in the primaries, the superdelegates (delegates who are admitted automatically because of their party position, rather than elected in a primary) will hold the balance of power. If that happens, my guess is they’ll go to Obama.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
If the race is close, he can pledge his delegates to one of the parties in return for a power spot.
Or he can get himself a prime time spot for speaking during the convention.
This way, he can make it work for him while giving people the illusion that something would actually change.
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November 11th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I hear that he is planning on streaking with "Kerry Sucks" written on his buttocks.
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November 11th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
To answer your question;
Edwards may hold enough delegates to prevent Hillary or Obama from winning the nomination outright. Therefore both Hillary and Obama will have to plead for Edwards support with promises to get him to release his delegates in favor of the nominee of his choice.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
He’ll try to use his few delegates to gain a position in the Clinton administration or influence policy in some way.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Obama and Edwards represent the Anti Clinton Vote if the Vote is close at the convention Edwards could strike a deal and give his delegates to another candidate.
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November 11th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
The theory here is that if Hillary and Obama each have nearly enough delegates to win, but neither actually has enough, Edwards might possibly be able to have a big impact by throwing his delegates to one candidate.
Nice theory, but very unlikely. Edwards probably won’t have many delegates – he’ll have to draw 15 – 20% to have an impact, and he only got 4% in Nevada. Since it’s clear he has no chance to win, his voto isn’t likely to go up much. (If Edwards was able to stay in the low 20s as some polls showed before Iowa, this could have happened.)
It’s much more likely that, if neither Hillary or Obama gains a decisive margin in the primaries, the superdelegates (delegates who are admitted automatically because of their party position, rather than elected in a primary) will hold the balance of power. If that happens, my guess is they’ll go to Obama.
References :