The Clinton campaign has plans to take the nomination even if Obama has wins the delegate count. This has the potential to be more destructive than using super-delegates to steal the election. Perhaps this come up as the possibility of having enough super-delegates to make difference fades. It doesn’t really matter to me that party rules allow for delegates to switch sides, even on the first ballot. It’s simply wrong. Hillary and various surrogates talk about how the DNC disenfranchised Florida and Michigan, then tries to undermine the democratic process of the primaries by stealing delegates? This promises to seriously damage Democratic prospects in November. How many Obama supporters will stay home if Hillary manages to trample on the party rank and file that voted for him in the primaries? Is her sense of entitlement and ambition more important than the party taking the White House?
Clinton targets pledged delegates – Roger Simon – Politico.com
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official on Monday. And I am not talking about superdelegates, those 795 party big shots who are not pledged to anybody. I am talking about getting pledged delegates to switch sides.
What? Isn’t that impossible? A pledged delegate is pledged to a particular candidate and cannot switch, right?
Wrong.
Pledged delegates are not really pledged at all, not even on the first ballot. This has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened.
But not this time.
UPDATE: Ezra brings it all together here
