Reprinted with Permission
50 years ago, Democratic candidates were chosen by “The Party”.
50 years ago this week, at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, that began to change. There had been some primaries and caucuses in 1968, of which Vice President Hubert Humphrey won a tiny amount, but “The Party” wanted Humphrey to be the party’s presidential nominee. They got that, and a whole lot of protests, and a disaster in November. Nixon won the Electoral College 301 – 191, with the remainder going to George Wallace.
Surprisingly, “The Party” formed a committee to see about changes, and some of those changes have lasted until now. To this day, delegates to the DNC are elected by voters in primaries and caucuses, and they need to reflect the diversity of the party. Delegates are required to represent, on at least the first DNC ballot, the will of the voters who elected them.
This lasted through George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976. But the internecine warfare between Carter and Ted Kennedy proved a bridge too far in 1980. Superdelegates were created by “The Party” in 1982. These Superdelegates were elected officials, DNC members, and other “important party members” 
and all had the right to vote in the first ballot at the DNC.
That lasted until last weekend, when the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to change the role of Superdelgates. (And yes “DNC” is the abbreviation for both the Democratic National Convention and the Democratic National Committee.) Going forward, Superdelegates will not be allowed to vote on the first ballot. Going into a second ballot would be considered a “brokered convention” — the last time that officially happened in the Democratic Party was in 1952. The most number of ballots at a brokered convention was in 1924, where 102 ballots were needed. For a full discussion of the rules changes, see TMess’ article. Unlike this article, his has specific information and no snark. Onward and downward….
So what does this mean to us as Democrats?
It means that we have come full circle in 46 years, and that in 2020, things will look very different. Back in 2008, DCW published Superdelegate standings daily, because the final tally between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could have come down to those votes. In 2016, Clinton had a lot of “The Party” support from the 
Superdelegates, and thus went into primary/caucus season with a whole bunch of 
dedicated DNC votes that had Bernie Sanders fighting to play catch-up from Iowa onward. While the outcome wouldn’t have changed (the primary calendar was somewhat rigged in favour of Clinton) it still came across as unfair to many Berniecrats. There is a case to be made that had the Berniecrats who stayed home or voted third party in November instead voted for Clinton, Washington, DC would look very different today. But I digress.
What is the purpose of any political party?
To get their candidates elected. Period. End of sentence. End of paragraph.
The Democratic Party is comprised of many factions:
- The Old Guard (aka “The Party”). These people hold positions of power in the Party, and have for many years. They range from Committee People at the hyperlocal level, through the State Committees, up to the DNC. This also includes a certain percentage of elected officials, as well as the majority of the money people.
- The Left Flank (aka “Activists”). This is the part of the party that currently most wants to see changes. They call themselves “Progressives”, which is both a misnomer and improper over time. In the current environment, they support the most Liberal of candidates and issues. They want a seat at the table.
- The Base. These are the people who vote. They vote in all or some general elections (although often not primaries). Oftentimes, they are not “involved”. They may give a little money, but they don’t attend Party meetings, and generally don’t work for candidates.
- The Rest of the Tent. These are people who don’t fit neatly into any of the other three categories. Many of them could be called “failed Democrats”. They generally vote a straight Democratic ticket, although will consider Third Party candidates. Often, they worked for the party many years ago, and got fed up and left. They give money to candidates, but never to the party. Also included in this group are single-issue voters. Some of them are recalcitrant voters except in presidential years, and others are incredibly active although not necessarily involved with non-Establishment candidates.
It’s a grand experiment to see who can do better in getting candidates elected: “The Party” or the others. We will see a preview of this in 2018 at the local, state and Congressional levels. There have been many Democratic primaries this year where an Establishment-backed candidate ran against an Activist candidate. The results have been mixed, but we will have a clear idea in November of which group did a better job running against the GOP in the General. Some of those GOP candidates are incumbent “moderates” (yeah, I know, but comparatively) and some are aligned with the Trumpite fascist regime.
This will have an impact on who ends up winning the presidential nomination in 2020. Democratic voters of all stripes will have choices between the Left Flank, the Establishment, and “The Famous”. Who wins which races in 2018 will certainly affect who people select. If the Establishment candidates do much better than the Activist candidates, voters may be gun-shy in 2020, and if the Activist candidates prevail, they will capture more votes. Time will tell. One thing to remember, it is the engaged who vote in primaries, not the overall base.
There is an ancillary point here. That being the party platform. That document, created by committee every 4 years, defines what each party stands for – what the party wishes to accomplish if their candidates are elected. And who writes the platform? With the exception of 2008, “The Party”. So there is a potentially interesting dichotomy of what the active party members want in terms of a presidential candidate, and what “The Party” wants that candidate, and other elected officials, to accomplish during the ensuing four years. This is going to be a bigger deal in 2020 than you probably think.
In 2008, the Obama campaign set up hyperlocal platform meetings in virtually every city and town in America. There was a format, and a list of issue positions came from those meetings. That data was sent up to the county level where it was compiled and considered, and the outcome of those meetings went to the state level. Those state documents (including DC, Puerto Rico and the Territories) went to the Platform Committee at the DNC. Only time in history.
When 2020 rolls around, people will run to be delegates. In some states, voters don’t actually choose candidates as much as they select delegates. In most states, delegates are pledged to a specific candidate. It is those delegates who, on the floor of the convention, vote to either accept or amend the proposed platform. And so, what the party stands for may differ from what the eventual presidential nominee stands for.
An example: In 2020, one of the issues that will be considered for the platform will be Single Payer (in one or various forms). If pro-Single Payer delegates are the majority at the convention, but the eventual candidate is establishment enough to fear running on that issue, there can be a floor fight. Conversely, if the eventual candidate ran on Single Payer as a primary issue, but the preponderance of delegates are establishment, again, floor fight. Remember that the vote on the platform will occur early in the convention, and the candidate will not be finalized until later. By the way, I don’t say this often enough: READ THE PLATFORM. You should know what your party stands for.
An old Chinese curse is “May you live in interesting times.” And we certainly are doing that now. As our party fights to wrest control of Congress and state legislatures and governors’ mansions, it is a fight between those supporting a fascist regime, and anything else. While there are some third party candidates, we can only hope to too many idiots don’t choose platform over the primary objective of dislodging the criminal, racist…..you know the rest…..
After the midterms, we will, as a party, resume our fight for the soul of the party. As an individual, think about what you want to do….perhaps you’d like to run next year for a local office, because whichever area of our tent wins out, we still need to build from the ground out. School boards control local taxes. Supervisors, Commissioners and Boards enact laws and regulations that affect your daily life and how your money is spent on things like roads and other infrastructure. Perhaps you’re interested in becoming a delegate in 2020 – it’s not too early to learn the process and what you’ll need to do to win. And do that thinking in your spare time — we need a Blue Wave this November!
I would add that there are two different ways of defining the party. One is by position on issues, and one is by their role in the party. While the stands on the issue differ between Democrats and Republicans, the problems cause by the relative role in the party are the same for both parties.
The party/establishment are those who hold office (either public office or in the party). The activists are the ones who attend party meeting and tend to run for delegate slots. Then there is the base/primary voters — folks who rarely attend meetings or run for anything but are consistent voters in the primary. Finally, there are general election voters — some of whom only vote some of the time and do not always vote for the Democrat. These difference make the platform and choosing nominees interesting. The folks who run for delegate and show up at meetings (the activists) may or may not reflect what matters to the base and what matters to the base may not matter to the general election voter. So you tend to get platforms that try to make sure that all groups represented by the activists get some plank that they can point at to as a reason why they are Democrats, even if those planks might not mesh with the majority of the base or cost the ticket with general election voters (and even if the candidates intend to disavow certain planks five seconds after the convention). And you sometimes get the primary voters choosing candidates whom the party leadership fears (sometimes correctly, sometimes not) will not get the vote from the general election voter.