The Green Papers
2008 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm Democratic Convention
Presidential Nominating Process
Automatic selection of unpledged delegates: Saturday 1 March 2008
Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting: Saturday 31 May 2008
45th Democratic National Convention: Monday 25 August - Thursday 28 August 2008
Democrats
CandidatePopular
Vote
Delegate Votes
Hard TotalFloor Vote
Clinton, Hillary Rodham17,857,501  48.04%1,730.5  39.17%341.5   7.73%
Obama, Barack Hussein17,584,692  47.31%1,747.5  39.55%1,549.5  35.07%
Edwards, John Reid994,029   2.67%32.0   0.72% 
Uncommitted293,075   0.79%908.0  20.55% 
Richardson, William B. "Bill", III104,053   0.28%  
Kucinich, Dennis J.99,963   0.27%  
Biden, Joseph Robinette "Joe", Jr.79,754   0.21%  
Gravel, Mike35,303   0.09%  
Dodd, Christopher J. "Chris"34,663   0.09%  
No Preference31,255   0.08%  
Blank, Void, Scattering28,698   0.08%  
(others)25,874   0.07%  
Uninstructed861   0.00%  
Scattering468   0.00%  
Undecided42   0.00%  
(available)   
(not voting)  2,527.0  57.20%
Total37,170,231 100.00%4,418.0 100.00%4,418.0 100.00%

States Chronologically   States Alphabetically     Republican Convention    

 
 

45th Democratic National Convention
Monday 25 August through Thursday 28 August 2008
Denver, Colorado

Official Convention website

On 5 October 2007, the DNC determined that the date of Florida's 29 January 2008 primary violates party rules and has decided to strip the state of its entire delegation.

On 1 December 2007, the DNC determined that the date of Michigans's 15 January 2008 primary violates party rules and has decided to strip the state of its entire delegation.

On Saturday 31 May 2008, the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee decided to seat the entire Florida and Michigan delegations. However, each delegate (pledged and unpledged) will cast only ½ delegate vote.

On the day before the National Convention, 24 August 2008, the Democratic National Convention's Credentials Committee had, at the request of Senator Barack Obama, voted to restore full voting strength to the delegates from Michigan and Florida, bringing the primary dispute to closure. The panel approved the full seating of Michigan and Florida with no debate or opposing votes.



Vice Presidential Commentary
OBAMA's BIGGEST
GAMBLE TO DATE
Why Joe Biden as his running
mate is a "roll of the dice"

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Saturday 23 August 2008



Democratic National Convention Preview Commentary
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH?...
OR MERELY 'FLATLINING'?
Obama/Biden has to use
the Democratic Convention
to rekindle the enthusiasm

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Sunday 24 August 2008



Democratic National Convention Day 1 Commentary:
WHO IS BARACK,
WHAT IS HE?
Obama's Convention opens with an
attempt to reintroduce himself

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Tuesday 26 August 2008



Democratic National Convention Day 2 Commentary:
A HOUSE DIVIDED
AGAINST ITSELF...
OR NOT?
Can the Democrats of 2008 unite?
If not, could the Party then still stand?

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Wednesday 27 August 2008



Roll Call Vote Tally Sheets for President of the United States as compiled by the Office of the Secretary at the 2008 Democratic National Convention


Democratic National Convention Day 3 Commentary:
AN HISTORIC DAY,
NONETHELESS
while Bill Clinton and Joe Biden
begin the wooing of Independents

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Thursday 28 August 2008

Roll Call Vote - 27 August 2008
JurisdictionVotesObamaClinton(not voting)
Alabama604857
Alaska18153 
American Samoa99  
Arizona674027 
Arkansas4747  
California441passes
Colorado705515 
Connecticut6038211
Delaware2323  
Democrats Abroad118.52.5 
District of Columbia40337 
Florida12111365124
Georgia10282182
Guam9432
Hawaii292612
Idaho23203 
Illinois185passes
Indiana857564
Iowa57489 
Kansas413461
Kentucky603624 
Louisiana6743717
Maine32248 
Maryland100946 
Massachusetts12165524
Michigan157125275
Minnesota887882
Mississippi41338 
Missouri88826 
Montana25187 
Nebraska31283 
Nevada342581
New Hampshire3030  
New Jersey127127  
New Mexico38yields to Illinois
Illinois185yields to New York
New York282Senator Clinton moves "in the spirit of unity" to suspend the rules, suspend the Roll Call of the States and nominate Barack Obama for President of the United States by acclamation... seconded... approved 'viva voce' (at the time this was done-- the delegate vote count was OBAMA 1549.5 CLINTON 341.5).
 19631549.5341.572
JurisdictionVotesObamaClinton(not voting)

 
Notes

1. 1 Abstention was specifically noted.

2. If one adds these votes together (on the theory that Senator Clinton's motion also intended that all the votes for her so far be also counted for Obama) along with all of New York's 282 votes, one gets 2,173 votes total cast, short of the 2,210 needed to nominate-- thus this motion seems purposely to have been made to nominate Obama by acclamation BEFORE the nomination could have been won, numerically, on the Roll Call itself.

On 2 September 2008, the Democratic National Committee's Office of the Secretary released the official results of the state tally sheets that were collected during voting on Wednesday 27 August: Barack Obama: 3188.5, Hillary Clinton: 1010.5. A state-by-state breakdown (Final Vote Tally - as compiled by the Office of the Secretary) is here



Day 4 (final day of the Convention) Commentary:
BARACK OBAMA
CLAIMS HIS PRIZE
But, once you have it, it's
what you then do with it

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson, TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Friday 29 August 2008



Democratic Convention wrap-up Commentary:
SO... DID BARACK OBAMA DO WHAT HE HAD TO DO?
What the Democratic
Convention did, and
did not, accomplish

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff, Saturday 30 August 2008


   

Saturday 1 March 2008: Automatic Assignment of 852 Unpledged Delegates.

The unpledged party leader and elected official delegates are assigned automatically by virtue of respective public or Party office as provided in Rule 8.A. of the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules.

 

Saturday 31 May 2008: Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting

The main item of business on the Committee's agenda will be the consideration of two pending challenges regarding the seating of the Florida and Michigan Delegations. The Committee will hear proposals from Michigan State University Trustee Joel Ferguson and Florida party official Jon Ausman.

Commentary Friday 30 May 2008
WEEKEND WARRIORS
Battles over Florida and Michigan shadow
the electoral battle in Puerto Rico

by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

The seating of these delegations is discussed in our commentary series "THEATRE OF THE POLITICALLY ABSURD ... The Relationship between State Law and Party Rules and the 'Punishing' of the former where violative of the latter" by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

"Vox Populi" ('Letters to the Editor' on this website) in response to the above pieces were those dated

 

Monday 25 August - Thursday 28 August 2008: 45th Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado

"The rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention call for the following formula to be used in determining the allocation of delegate votes to each state and jurisdiction sending a delegation to the Convention:

Each state plus the District of Columbia is to be assigned a number of Base delegate votes based on an "Allocation Factor" multiplied by 3,000 (the optimum minimum size of a Democratic National Convention as determined by the Democratic National Committee): a state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" being a decimal fraction arrived at through a calculation involving the following factors-

  1. the state's (or D.C.'s) popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (in this case: 1996, 2000 and 2004). This is the "State's Democratic Vote" [SDV].
  2. the total popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (again, in this case: 1996, 2000 and 2004). This is the "Total Democratic Vote" [TDV].
  3. the state's Electoral Vote [SEV] and
  4. the total Electoral Vote [TEV] (538)

The formula for determining a given state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" [AF] is:

AF = ½ × ( ( SDV ÷ TDV ) + ( SEV ÷ 538 ) )

The number of Base delegate votes assigned to a state is AF × 3000. Of these Base delegate votes, 75% are assigned to be district delegate votes and the remaining 25% are to be at-large delegate votes. In addition to these Base delegate votes, the state (and D.C.) are awarded a number of Pledged "Party Leaders and Elected Officials" [PLEOs] equal to 15% of the number of Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000 formula described above. There are also delegate votes from U.S. dependencies which do not cast Electoral Votes for President in a General Election. PUERTO RICO is considered, for purposes of the Convention, to have a Base delegate vote of 44; the special case of the other dependencies sending delegations to the Democratic National Convention will be considered below. These delegate votes described so far (making up a number equal to 115% of the total Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000) are pledged, prior to the first meeting of the Convention, to the support of a presidential contender who earns the support of such delegate votes by virtue of his performance as measured by the votes cast by Democratic voters in primaries and caucuses and/or by Democratic delegates to state and/or sub-state conventions held in each state prior to the Convention.

The states (and D.C.) are also assigned a number of "Unpledged" delegates:

  1. "Unpledged PLEOs" consisting of the following:
    1. Democratic National Committee members.
    2. Democratic Members of Congress (U.S. Senators and Representatives, except those who are to be Pledged PLEOs).
    3. Democratic Governors, except those who are already members of the Democratic National Committee and, therefore, are delegates re: a.) above.
    4. Distinguished Party Leaders (current and former U.S. Presidents and Vice-Presidents, former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate and U.S, House- including former Democratic Speakers of the House and former chairmen of the Democratic National Committee. and

  2. Unpledged "add-on"s (chosen based on the vote of the members of the Democratic National Committee).
    1. These "Unpledged" delegates go to the Convention officially "Unpledged" (that is, not committed- ahead of time- to vote for any particular presidential contender), though it is well known that many- if not most- of these may very well be privately supporting a presidential contender. The number of these "Unpledged" delegates to the Democratic National Convention is subject to change up to the first meeting of the Convention due to deaths, resignations from office (for those PLEOs who hold an elective office) or accession- by a Democrat- to an elective office through an intervening election or special election. In addition, any Unpledged PLEO who shall subsequently become a Pledged PLEO may further alter the number of Unpledged National Convention delegates within a given delegation."

There will actually be more delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention than there are delegate votes [which is why I use the term "delegate votes" in the first place]. Some states will have more delegate seats than actual delegate votes at that Convention [as a result of which, some delegates from some states will have to cast fractional votes during roll calls on the Convention floor]. There will be 4,418 delegate votes at the 45th Democratic National Convention, but there will be 4,438 actual delegates on the floor of the Convention (in other words, 20 more delegates than votes)... here's why:

  • AMERICAN SAMOA, with 9 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates.
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each cast 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
  • GUAM, with 8 delegate votes, will have 11 delegates
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 1 unpledged delegate (Democratic Member of Congress) casts 1 vote for a total of 1 votes;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
  • VIRGIN ISLANDS, with 9 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates
    • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
    • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each casts 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
    • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
  • DEMOCRATS ABROAD, with 11 delegate votes, will have 22 delegates. The makeup of the DEMOCRATS ABROAD delegation will be:
    • 9 regional delegates [a .5 vote each]= 4.5 regional delegate votes;
    • 3 at-large delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1.5 at-large delegate votes;
    • 2 Pledged PLEO delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1 Pledged PLEO delegate vote;
    • 8 Unpledged PLEO delegates [a 0.5 vote each]= 4 Unpledged PLEO delegate votes.

"In a relative handful of cases, a Member of Congress or a Governor is also a member of the Democratic National Committee (in some of these cases, such as that of the Democrats' Congressional Leaders- House Minority Leader Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Daschle- Members of Congress are DNC members ex-officio; in other cases, however, they represent various associated committees or organizations affiliated with the DNC: for example, U.S. Senators [other than Daschle] sit on the DNC as representatives of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee- likewise, Congressmen [other than Gephardt] and Governors sit on the DNC as representatives of, respectively, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors' Association); the Democratic Party lists these Unpledged PLEOs who are DNC members as well as holders of elective office solely as DNC members (in other words, as far as the Party is concerned, these people are "Party Leaders" more than "Elected Officials"). However, it is the considered opinion of "The Green Papers" that the average user of this web site is going to think of these few Unpledged PLEOs who are in the unique position of being both PLs AND EOs more in terms of their elected office than their DNC membership: as a result, "The Green Papers" has "converted" DNC members who happen also to be Governors, Senators and Representatives to their political office from their DNC membership. Therefore, the breakdown in each state or other jurisdiction of Unpledged PLEOs as posted on "The Green Papers" may differ somewhat from that put out by the Democratic Party itself: where this is the case, it is so indicated on the appropriate DEMOCRAT page for the affected state or other jurisdiction."


Replacing Unpledged Delegates

Unpledged delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except under the following conditions:

  1. Members of Congress and Democratic Governors shall not be entitled to name a replacement. In the event of changes or vacancies in the state's Congressional Delegation, following the official confirmation and prior to the commencement of the national convention, the DNC Secretary shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by the Democratic Caucus of the U. S. House of Representatives or the Democratic Conference of the U. S. Senate. In the event of a change or vacancy in he state's office of Governor, the DNC shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by the Democratic Governors' Association.
  2. Members of the DNC and unpledged Add-on delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except in the case of death of such delegates. In the case where the state's DNC membership changes following the DNC Secretary's official confirmation, but prior to the commencement of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, acknowledgment by the Secretary of the new DNC member certification shall constitute verification of the corresponding change of unpledged delegates.
  3. Distinguished Party Leader delegates allocated to the state pursuant to Rule 8.A.(5) shall not be entitled to name a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to name a replacement.
  4. In no case may an alternate cast a vote for an unpledged delegate.

Terminology:

  • PLEOs = Party Leaders and Elected Officials.
  • Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons = Superdelegates.
  • District + at-large delegates = Base delegates.
  • Base delegates + Pledged PLEOs are the only delegates chosen through a Democratic presidential Primary or Caucus/Convention procedure and, thus, allocated to presidential contenders.
  • All Unpledged delegates (Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons) are automatically uncommitted and are held aside rather than allocated to presidential contenders through a Primary or Caucus/Convention.


1 Democratic Party's "First Determining Step" of the delegate selection process.

 


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