It comes as no surprise (see my ID) that I was watching the Libertarian national convention last weekend. I'm not interested in comparing our relative positions on issues, but I found some of the differences and similarities in process interesting.
For instance, we do the same state-by-state announcements of delegation votes with some of the same silly or amusing or self-serving or sometimes not-ready-for primetime preface comments. (My favorite was from Alaska "where we welcome global warming with open arms"; since I don't think he was serious, I found it totally unexpected and I was LOL.)
Anyway, after the jump is a procedural item that I'd like to know how the Democratic rules handle it.
Once our presidential nominee is selected, he or she is alloted a chunk of time to address the convention to express a preference for the vice-presidential slot. Sometimes there is no preference (e.g., Badnarik in 2004) and sometimes there is (e.g., Barr in 2008). Regardless, it's just an endorsement. The convention goes about voting for the nominee in just the same way it does for the presidential nomination (Barr got his preference, but it took two ballots).
So what about the Democratic convention? Let's hypothetically say that Obama wins and says he wants the biggest possible tent and reaches out to choose Lieberman. I have to assume the convention goes bat-sh|t. Do the rules allow the convention to pick someone else?
As always, thanks to everyone for tolerating my (very limited) presence here among you. I try to behave myself and I learn a lot. Hopefully I contribute a little something here & there to the community.