With four primaries/caucuses in the can, we have five candidates who have been awarded delegates:
Sanders — 56 (39%)
Biden — 48 (33%)
Buttigieg — 26 (18%)
Warren — 8 (5%)
Klobuchar — 7 (5%)
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that these numbers held, and this were the delegate distribution after the primaries had ended. As the leader in delegates, Sanders would probably have the strongest claim to the nomination, but only marginally so, and nothing in the rules would compel that outcome. What if Buttigieg agreed to join a ticket with Biden as Biden’s Vice President? Then the two of them would jointly represent 51% of the Democratic primary electorate as manifested by delegates.
We seem likely to emerge from the primaries with something like this scenario this year, and any way you resolve it seems like it will inevitably lead to a lot of hard feelings and a legitimacy problem for the eventual nominee.
Ranked choice voting, voting in which each voter indicates their first, second, third, etc. choice would make it possible to have a clear way to establish the preference of the primary voters, which is really what it should be all about.
As for this year, we all need to act like adults who care more about the fate of our country and world than we do about our personal preference. Any one of these candidates, from Sanders through Bloomberg would be vastly preferable to re-electing Trump. If you cannot see that, then you are too ideologically rigid and need to seriously re-examine your beliefs because you are part of the problem.
In my view, if someone walks into the convention with a pledged delegate count in the high 40’s and their closest competitor several points behind them, then we all ought to get behind that candidate and support them. On the other hand, if the final distribution of delegates looks more like this, then the candidates and party leadership ought to work together to resolve the issue in a transparent manner, and no candidate should feel as though they are entitled to the nomination.
And we should never permit something like this to ever happen again.