ladies and gentlemen, John has left the building

[theladycancook]

I just read that in a couple of hours, John Edwards will announce that he's dropping out of the race. According to the New York Times, he isn't going to endorse Clinton or Obama.

Personally, I wish Obama would grab him as a V.P. right now, although I don't know that Edwards would run in the second spot again.

In dropping out before Super Tuesday,

Comments

Q. What happens to Edwards' delegates?

[anonymous]

A: It depends on state rules. Some state parties bind their delegates to vote a certain way on the first (and, sometimes, second) ballot, no matter what. As far as the "super delegates," they can do whatever they want. Furthermore, the delegates in the caucus states aren't even committed yet. As a practical matter, according to the analysts on the Diane Rhem show, delegate count is irrelevant at this point, because the number of delegates already chosen is teeny. More than 40% of the delegates (both parties) will be chosen next Tuesday.

Q. What happens to Edwards' delegates?

[earthpen]

A: It depends on state rules. Some state parties bind their delegates to vote a certain way on the first (and, sometimes, second) ballot, no matter what. As far as the "super delegates," they can do whatever they want. Furthermore, the delegates in the caucus states aren't even committed yet. As a practical matter, according to the analysts on the Diane Rhem show, delegate count is irrelevant at this point, because the number of delegates already chosen is teeny. More than 40% of the delegates (both parties) will be chosen next Tuesday.

Re: Q. What happens to Edwards' delegates?

[theladycancook]

Complicated. Veryveryvery complicated. But I'm glad it isn't winner-take-all. A guy replied to my Wordpress blog with this link, which has helped me better understand the process: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_convention_delegate_process_explained .