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Blog Kindergarten: A Bossy Tutorial. Presidential Delegates

delegate-definition

So there are these things and there are also state primaries, and it’s during this stage that each registered citizen casts a vote for their chosen party candidate for President of the United States. Right? Bossy is sick today and therefore writing an explanatory post is like trying to catch cotton candy with a butterfly net. Um, yeah. See what she means?

Because when we cast our vote for a particular candidate we are really enabling that candidate’s delegate to go to the convention floor and cast a representative vote for that candidate. Bossy has a temperature of 99.2. And she just used the word candidate three times in one sentence.

voting-process

The Democrats and the Republicans each have their own methods of sending delegates to the presidential party conventions. Also? Last night Bossy only slept for like thirty-five minutes while her heart bounced around in her chest. Dad? Is that normal?

The Democratic party has 4049 delegates in all, which are divided into two types: pledged delegates and superdelegates.

  • Pledged delegates are elected or otherwise chosen at the local level, and there’s an understanding that they will support a particular candidate at the party’s convention. There’s an understanding, but they don’t always comply. Therefore depending on each state’s election rules, candidates are allowed to delete the name of those delegates who may cast a contrarian vote. For instance Bossy would never use the word contrarian if she weren’t delirious. Or in heart failure. There are 3253 pledged delegates in all.

  • Superdelegates win their position as an outgrowth of their own political life—they are typically comprised of democratic congressmen, governors, national committee members, or other party leaders. They don’t have to indicate a preference for a candidate beforehand, although they are heavily courted by the candidates, which Bossy pronounces like Can-ih-dates even though there’s a D in the middle of the word.

When the results are tabulated following a primary or a caucus, the Democrats use proportional representation to decide how many pledged delegates are awarded to each candidate, so for example 40% of the vote gets 40% of the delegates. Another example is Bossy is not only wearing a sweatshirt to hide her Griddle Girls, but she is wrapped in an Ikea throw. A candidate must receive at least 15% of the vote to earn any pledged delegates.

There isn’t a process to win superdelegates because the superdelegates vote for whoever buys them nice stuff is best qualified.

So then in August, all of those pledged delegates and superdelegates head to the Democratic National Convention in Denver to cast their nomination for President of the United States. In order for a candidate to become the party’s nominee, they must be nominated by a majority, or in this case 2,025 delegates out of a total of 4049 to win.

equation

The Republican party has 2380 delegates in all, which are divided into two types: pledged delegates and unpledged delegates. Maybe when Bossy took her temperature she was holding the thermometer upside down and she really has a fever of 29.9?

  • There are 1917 pledged delegates who are elected or chosen at the state level zzzzzzzz. Or maybe Bossy is just sick from watching a documentary about Mick Jagger where he flitted around in a jet from his French estate to his London townhouse. The pledged delegates promise to throw their support to a particular candidate.

  • There are 463 unpledged delegates, many of whom are elected and some of who inherit their role through their own political affiliations. Whom? Who? Question: how long does it take Extra Strength Tylenol to kick-in? Answer: an aeon.

Each state has its own rules for awarding the Republican delegates following a caucus or primary—sometimes it’s winner-takes-all, and sometimes the candidates earn the percentage of pledged delegates directly corresponding to the percentage of their popular vote. Percentage Percentage Percentage. Vote Vote Etov.

And then in September, all of those Republican delegates head to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

white-dancing

The Republican nominee will be the candidate who wins the simple majority of the overall delegates, or 1191 to win.

This Is A Neat Page Where You Can Find Out The Candidates’ Positions On Various Issues Such As Abortion, Guns, Same-Sex Marriage, Health Care, Social Security, Immigration, Taxes, Stem Cell, And Education.

And This Is A Neat Election Scorecard Keeping Track Of Delegate Votes.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bossy should teach a Political Process course – she is very good at explaining the inscrutable, even with a temperature.
    Hope you feel better soon – btw, a little caffeine with your Tylenol or Motrin will kick it in faster, possibly cutting that aeon in half.

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  4. Get better Bossy! Has Bossy considered that with all the driving around the country she is going to do this summer, she may find herself accidentally elected president? People will confuse her with a can-i-date and since everyone loves Bossy she’ll get 100% of the delegates for both parties, plus the libertarians too I’ll bet. I would vote for her just to hear her state of the union address.

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  5. I think upside down you’d be running a temp of 26.6, not 29.9. (Either way, you’d be dead, so it’s really splitting hairs.) Hubby’s temp’s been up in the 100’s the last few days and he’s generally acting like he’s dying — maybe I should turn his thermometer upside down?

    In your tutorial, I am afraid of Barack O’Boyfriend’s very prominent ears…

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  6. I know you love your boyfriend and all, but think of it this way: he’ll have more time for you when my girl Hilary is in the White House 😉

    Go Dems!

    I’ll be doing the white man’s overbite for a looong time if we take the election!

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  11. Feel better bossy! I was sick too over the holidays. Your tutorial was quite informative-I am amazed at your numbers and stats-very impressive!

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  12. OMG, Momo Fali, your comment cracks me up. And how do I put this delicately and discreetly…Bossy looks like she really spreads her legs wide when she sits at the computer.

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  16. If you think that “can-ih-dates” is a mispronunciation, you should have been in my living room during the last election results broadcast, when my brother’s girlfriend repeatedly pronounced the word “gubernatorial” as “goober-natural”.

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  25. Could BOSSY please repeat the part after Kindergarten? Farty’s brain hurts. It’s so much easier in Scotchland – when Queen Liz croaks, Chuck gets promoted to King.

    Has BOSSY tried using gin as a mixer with her Tylenol?

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  29. All I know is this. If I think someone should be President, you can bet they won’t get elected. Cuz hubby says I’m a tree-hugging-granola-loving-hippie. So this year I refuse to hope for either Hillo or Baracko.
    I don’t want to jinx either one.

    Will you do a tutorial on Mitosis and Meiosis? Me and Sorority Girl can’t keep that one straight.

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  40. William’s comment:

    “how do you pronounce ‘Pledged’ since there is a ‘D’ in the middle of that word as well.”

    Maybe your readers can help you. Try this — read this aloud:

    DID DODDERING DADDY DIDDLE DIDACTIC DIERDRE?

    Good.

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  42. I hope you feel better.

    Thanks for the explanation. My 11 year old (on Monday!) daughter just asked me this afternoon what the deal is with primaries and I ummed and erred and tried to explain and lo and behold! Bossy saves the day and teaches a 5th grader (and her mom) a civics lesson.

    Kudos to you!

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  43. Just thought I’d share with you that I pronounce candidates “can-ih-dits.” I don’t know why I needed to share that with you, but I did.

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  44. BOSSY’s enunciation is impeccable; her observations on Republican Dancing Skills (an oxymoron, at best) are astute, and her lexicon is definitely the BOSS.

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  45. I would just like to note that according to the map of Bossy’s roadtrip, Bossy lives in CANADA. Which just goes to add support to the sense that some people have that Americans aren’t involved enough in our own political process. How come I couldn’t explain any of this stuff before reading this tutorial? I can actually VOTE in this coming elections. -sigh- Also, I think 99.2 upside down is 2.99. Not a healthy temperature indeed.

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  46. where were you when i was in poli sci grad school and needed you? all i had at my disposal then was my sunny disposition and my ability to sing “I’m Just a Bill” thanks to America Rock.

    thank Dog i now have you.

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  49. Bossy, can I tell you how much I love you that you are so smart about politics?

    That being said, I’ll kick your skinny little ass if you touch my man Obama.

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  50. Poor Bossy. Go to sleep.

    I lived in Florida in 2000 and didn’t go to sleep till 5 am the morning after election. Can I be next and tell everyone about hanging chads?

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  53. Thank goodness for this post. I skipped a whole lot of school as a youngin’ and sure did need this explanation. Don’t know what I’d do without Bossy! Fever or not fever, just so long as she doesn’t go all debra lefevre we’ll be all right.

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  54. Maybe we should skip all this nonsense and do like the cath-o-licks do. Incense, anyone?

    The last 2 elections my pick lost…..that’s a bummer, dude.

    Feel better, bossy!!!

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  56. Thank you for explaining all that. In a format that I can understand, sarcasm. As for the very white dancing, Republicans don’t dance. They’re not allowed too. Haven’t you seen “Footloose”?

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  57. I’m a Canadian and have recently become interested in the U.S. electoral process (okay if you twist my arm your Barack O’Boyfriend might have a tad bit to do with my newfound interest). I find your blog about the right amount of enlightenment for me. Damm – I want to caucus though! You Americans have all the fun.

    Just recovering from being near death’s door (according to me) myself I totally concur that Tylenol does in fact take an aeon to work.

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  59. This post is so good, it gave me a feeling I’ve not felt since…

    whoooooo-HAHHHH.

    whoooooo-HAHHHH.

    whoooooo-HAHHHH.

    It’s an older code, but it checks out.

    Reply

  62. I’m laughing so hard I started choking and I can’t stop. Maybe if high school civics had been this fun, I wouldn’t be so ignorant about the electoral process.

    Reply

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