A pledged delegate is an oxymoron

“There is no such thing as a pledged delegate.â€

— Hillary Clinton, April 3, 2008

Unlike some of the more fanciful claims made by candidate Clinton, this one is true. There is no such thing as a pledged delegate.

“This has been an open secret in the party for years,†according to Roger Simon of Politico, “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. This time, one candidate may enter the convention leading by just a few pledged delegates, and those delegates may find themselves being promised the sun, moon and the stars to switch sides.â€

Barack Obama will enter the convention leading by more than “just a few†pledged delegates, but not by enough to discourage the Clintons from offering delegates the sun, moon and stars and other incentives to switch sides. And if you don’t think that’s true, you haven’t been paying attention. Clinton has made it extremely clear she will do anything, including coyly bringing up her hard-working white support, to get the nomination by trying to convince delegates only she has the support and experience to beat John McCain.

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But, you ask, what about all those so-called pledged delegates that have been won by Clinton and Obama since Iowa? It depends on what the meaning of “pledged†is. Democratic party rules state, rather vaguely, that delegates “shall in good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,†but it doesn’t require them to do so.

In most states, pledged delegates are free to vote their “good conscience†even on the first convention ballot and that vote needn’t be the choice of those who elected them. Connecticut is one of those states, according to state party chairperson Nancy DiNardo, but she believes it’s “highly doubtful†it would happen in her delegation.

This situation is of some interest because of Clinton’s insistence on staying the course even though she has been counted out numerically. Although her handlers deny it, her newfound interest in the right of any delegate to change his or her mind raises the possibility that her last gasp will be dedicated to raiding Obama’s pledged delegates, even if Obama declares himself the winner.

Clinton said as much to two national news magazines in the days following her landslide victory in West Virginia, courtesy of that great state’s “hard-working, white voters.â€

“Every delegate with very few exceptions is free to make up his or her mind however they choose,†Clinton told Time. And she was even more expansive with Newsweek when asked how she can win the nomination when the math looks so bleak:

“It doesn’t look bleak at all,†        Clinton said. “There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and superdelegates...and they’re all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose...This is a very carefully constructed process that goes back years and we’re going to follow the process.â€

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Unless the candidate was engaging in idle chatter, expect her to go after Obama delegates with abandon if she doesn’t get out of the race after the final primary.

Should that happen, Obama will, of course, go after Clinton delegates with equal diligence and delegates could even switch from Obama and Clinton to others. That could make for a very messy, even unpredictable convention, something we haven’t seen in years.

On more than one occasion in our history, exhausted front runners have reached the convention to find neither of them could muster quite enough support to win the nomination and a dark horse emerged as the nominee. Wouldn’t that be something?

 Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. E-mail him at dahles@hotmail.com.