Monday, February 18, 2008

Fuzzy Math

The concept of super-delegates is confusing enough--and that was before anyone suggested that they can be cut in half. Today’s New York Times has the latest count:

Clinton - 189.5

Obama - 142.5

Undecided - 207.5

Did not answer - 255.5

Polprint was under the impression that it was one super-delegate, one vote. Evidently that is far too simplistic.

As for regular delegates, the Washington Post has an interesting piece about the Texas allocations. The number of delegates assigned to each voting district is based on Democratic participation in the 2004 presidential election and the 2006 Texas governor’s race (in which Chris Bell was not the most inspiring candidate). This means that Latinos are likely to have proportionately fewer delegates than whites and blacks in big cities, since their turnout has been spotty in the past.

By the way...the only thing crazier than super-delegates is American Airlines. Polprint has suffered cancellations, delays and sudden gate changes on a perfectly sunny day in her efforts to get home. Which is why she has all this leisure time to pontificate.

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