Sorry, but this is getting pathetic. Bernie Sanders is now, once again, making noises that there will be a “CONTESTED CONVENTION!!1!!1!” and that superdelegates should make him the nominee.
The math this is based on, like so much in the Sanders campaign, is shaky at best, downright dishonest at worst.
Bernie’s claim that Hillary needs to win a majority of ALL delegates with pledged delegates alone is, frankly, stupid. If she enters the convention with a majority of pledged delegates then it will be the voters who made her the nominee, not the superdelegates. His whining that supers should be allocated according to who won their states is just another way of pulling wool over the eyes of people ignorant about the process- if we followed his rules on superdelegates Hillary would still be winning in a landslide.
The reality is that Bernie is tacitly acknowledging he cannot win the nomination through voters and pledged delegates. Unfortunately for him, his fundraising took a big hit and it is hard to pay for big rallies where you get to hear a lot of people cheering your name if the money dries up. He’s got to convince enough people that he’s got some path to victory in order to keep his campaign flush and his ego stroked. Hence we have all of the dishonesty and caterwauling about superdelegates.
And it is working on an ignorant segment of the population. I’ve seen people posting that “THE SUPERDELEGATES ARE STEALING THE NOMINATION FROM BERNIE! ZOMG!1!” even as he advocates superdelegates overturning the will of the voters. Playing the victim in this way is almost Trump-like in its simplicity, and entirely Trump-like in the low opinion it shows of his supporters.
When the voting is concluded, one of the candidates will have a majority of pledged delegates. That candidate will be Hillary Clinton. Between her pledged delegates and the superdelegates who have already declared support for her, Clinton will already have more than enough support to win the nomination. Other superdelegates will continue to endorse her after voting has concluded and her majority will be commanding, to say the least.
Since we’re in a reality based community, here is how an actual “contested convention” would go if Bernie decided to humiliate himself on national television.
We have two candidates for nomination. States cast your votes…
{Long, drawn out roll call of states casting ballots in which the final outcome is never in doubt}
Hillary Rodham Clinton has secured a majority of more than 2383 delegates. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our nominee!
If Bernie wants to undercut the message he’s been pushing and undermine the entire concept of his revolution, he can feel free to go to the convention and “contest” it. He will lose badly and squander any opportunity he may have had to influence things. Heck, he might even get the bonus of damaging Clinton and Democrats downballot, if that’s what he’s really going for.
But at some point he’s going to learn that this is about the voters and the future of the country, not his ego trip. He can either reach that conclusion on his own or he can learn it the hard way at the convention.
His other option, of course, would be to show some integrity, class, and decency. There may be some recent precedent he can look to.