Democrats gather to confront lingering 2016 frustration

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

Democrats are bullish about their prospects in the November midterms, and are peeking around the corner at a 2020 rematch with President Donald Trump. But first, they're confronting the lingering frustration from 2016.

That bitter nominating fight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is front and center in Chicago this week as members of the Democratic National Committee gather for their summer meeting. They'll decide the fate of so-called superdelegates — DNC members, elected officials and other party dignitaries. Two years after such delegates overwhelmingly backed Clinton, Sanders supporters argue that this group is the epitome of establishment favoritism.

As he seeks to build a unified front among Democrats heading into the next presidential primary, DNC Chairman Tom Perez is pushing a proposal to limit the influence of superdelegates at the 2020 convention. The primary could feature as many as two dozen Democrats vying to take on Trump.

"These moves are about rebuilding trust," Perez told reporters recently, defending a plan that would strip party insiders of their votes on the first ballot of a contested nominating convention, leaving the outcome to pledged delegates whose votes are dictated by the results of state primaries and caucuses.

Read more: https://wcfcourier.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/democrats-gather-to-confront-lingering-frustration/article_0b23991c-e677-52e8-9b60-0fd8c797876b.html

[pnwmom]

1. I say keep the superdelegates, which help give minorities more of a voice

than they would otherwise have (due to our gerrymandered districts) -- and get rid of the unrepresentative, mostly white caucuses and replace them all with primaries.

I would consider doing both -- eliminating superdelegates and caucuses -- if the Congressional black caucus supported that. But eliminating superdelegates while keeping caucuses will reduce the power of minority voters even more.

[deurbano]

3. My daughter is leaving SF for Chicago tomorrow. She's a member of the DNC Disability Council.

She recently attended a sort of update/overview presentation in SF by Tom Perez. The DNC is strongly encouraging states to get rid of caucuses, but for the ones bent on keeping them, the DNC wants alternative ways to ensure equal access to participation... like mail-in ballots, I think? I don't see exactly how that would work in the framework of a caucus, so hopefully the caucus states will just dump them. Don't know if he mentioned this at the presentation, but I also hate open primaries, especially the type we have in CA.

[pnwmom]

4. I don't like open primaries, either, but I'm afraid Democrats won't have much say in that

if state voters approve them.

However, caucuses are worse. Every time I go to one I get angry. The first order of business is to ask everyone there to pitch in to defray the costs of the caucuses -- which the state's voters voted to end. The GOP got rid of their caucuses but the Dems insisted on keeping ours.

So only a tiny percentage of Democrats participate in the pre-general election voting process. This year Bernie got all of WA's caucus delegates, even though Hillary won the "beauty contest" primary by a large majority of votes.

[deurbano]

9. Well, that sucks. Why would the state Dems insist on keeping them? The caucuses are so undemocratic,

and much more of an actual issue with an actual impact than super delegates. In terms of the open (jungle!) primary in CA, I know the state Democratic leadership would like to get rid of it, and I hope that becomes a priority. We want more people to get involved in the process and even run for office, but with this type of primary, there is a real risk of ending up with two Republicans in the general, if too many Democrats enter a primary. (And no write-ins are allowed in the general!) My MIL's neighbor hosted an event in her home (something she'd never done before) for a congressional candidate... and she and my MIL were very enthusiastic about this candidate... and that should be a good thing in a primary... but there were so many candidates (6 Democrats, but only two Republicans) that this increased Democratic interest and enthusiasm almost led to Republicans in both the first and second spots. The Democrats pulled it off in the end, but that shouldn't even be a possibility. Also, even when the result is two Democrats, i want party members pulling together in the general, not still fighting other Democrats.

[pnwmom]

10. I think they were afraid of ending up with a jungle primary, and wanted to maintain control.

But we do have a jungle primary, for everything except the Presidential caucuses. So it's kind of the worst of all worlds.

[RandySF]

2. They are violating the DU Terms of Services

No refighting the 2016 primaries.

[TexasTowelie]

5. That isn't the only TOS rule that they were alerted on.

There were some other violations in the civility, political, and content categories.

[rpannier]

6. Seriously? People alerted this post?

That's like having a room for New York Giants fans and someone posts that the ownership and GM are having a sit down to talk about last season and changes they want to make and someone alerts it as a violation of NY Giants room rules
This thread is an informational thread about what is actually happening in the DNC. Discussions by the leadership about possible rule changes.

The post is NOT a 2016 sucked and was so unfair to (insert candidate)
People need to work on their reading skills or take a vacation for a few weeks

[TexasTowelie]

7. No, as far as I know nobody alerted on the OP.

I was joking with Randy that the DNC committee was getting alerted upon for multiple reasons.

It's the heat of summer and we're heading for more heated emotions until the election. It certainly doesn't hurt to read and reread everything though.

[rpannier]

8. Thanks

There are some here idk sometimes

[beachbum bob]

11. keep democratic presidential candidates limited to DEMOCRATS, stops one problem

if a person is too afraid to say they are a democrat, then they shouldn't run in our primaries

[Magoo48]

13. Perhaps,

if we made it less difficult for young, progressives to move around, and forward, under the tent they wouldn’t be as skeptical of our brand. The old guard must embrace new people and ideas on the public stage.

[beachbum bob]

15. I would cut the "new guard vs old guard crap out altogether"....

its a point that can be harvested for dissent of a common purpose which is way more critical for the survival of our country than some ideological crap.

[Magoo48]

19. Thankfully, I am not you.

At 70, I’ve had plenty of time to watch my party concede themselves into noodlehood. As a Democrat, I reserve the right to comment on my lifelong party of choice...positively or negatively. Hell, my union meetings were filled with more progressive ideas than half the Democratic Party will even consider right now. We will start winning when we have the strong winds of change at our backs.

[maxrandb]

12. Fuck everyones "frustrations"

If you care about preserving this country, then if you see A. Hun (D) on your local ballot...VOTE FOR A. HUN

We can worry about "hurt feelings" and "frustrations" with Democrats AFTER putting a stake through the heart of Retrumplicanism

[beachbum bob]

16. 100% agree. We know who and what is our common enemy. If we are united, we will squash them

anything that breeds dissent in our ranks is simply they only way the opposition can survive

[NurseJackie]

14. Keep the Superdelegates! Get rid of the whiners and malcontents...

... and caucuses.

[Mc Mike]

17. Following a simple dictum would solve the lingering bitter infighting: if you can't say something

nice, talk about the tangelo taint tumor.

[BlueIdaho]

18. We need to be sure we have a very "broad tent"

That tent needs to have access to all DEMOCRATS. If you are differently abled, your voice needs to be heard, if you’re a young progressive, your voice needs to be heard. If your a lifelong retired Democrat, your voice needs to be heard. If you’re not a party member, join the party and your voice will get heard. If not, it won’t.

A Caucus is a terrible tool to use to get everyone's voice heard. A party primary, while not perfect, is a far better tool. We need to move towards that format in all states. There are a million and one ways for “them” to ratfuck anything we do. But for dog’s sake, let’s not rat fuck ourselves.

[StevieM]

20. The super delegates played no roll in Sanders' defeat. Had he won the pledged delegates he would

have gotten the nomination. Any SDs that were supporting Clinton would have gone over to Sanders, just like they did with Obama in 2008.