BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

The magic number is 2,025!  So far, the Democratic race for the nomination  has used a grand total of 386.  We are a long way from the finish line.  The nominee will need to capture the magic number from a total delegate count of 4, 049.

A lot of emphasis was placed on the Iowa Caucus with their delegates being spent as follows:  18 for Clinton, 18 for Obama, and 17 for Edwards.  So, did Obama really win the caucus or did he win the popular vote?  It almost looks too close to call to me, almost a tie.

We moved on to New Hampshire where Clinton took 11 of the delegates and was pronounced the winner…. but… ah, Obama ended up with 12 delegates, Edwards won only 4.  So, did Clinton actually win?  Maybe the popular vote, but Obama put an extra delegate in his pocket.

Clinton and Obama each walked away with 14 delegates as they made their way from the Nevada Caucus, heading to the next round in South Carolina.

So, what does this mean to us?  It means that even though the media would have us believe that Hillary Clinton has won two states to Obama’s one, Obama has picked up one more delegate than Clinton.

As we progress through the remainder of the states, each of the candidates have delegates ”superdelegates” that are pledged to them.  These superdelegates are more or less some of the state dignitaries that get to cast a special vote as a delegate at the convention.  And, for the most part these have already stated their preferences.

But, the point of this commentary is to remind everyone, including myself, of two things.  Delegate votes are similar to electoral votes in the national election.  A winner of the popular vote doesn’t necessarily mean a winner of the most delegates.  For that reason, each person needs to get out and vote to make sure his/her delegate votes for your choice. 

And, secondly, the media is not telling the whole story when they report the nightly news.  The totals and wins they are presenting is based on popular vote, not the number of delegates awarded to the candidates.  Again, it is what the Catholic Church would call a “sin of omission”.  They aren’t telling us the entire story.  They are leading us to believe that the race is all but over, when…. “we’ve only just begun.”

No matter your choice of candidate, don’t think that because the media is announcing front-runners and winners that you or I can afford to sit on the predictions…. cause it just ain’t so.