DNC Chairman Howard Dean revealed that indeed the superdelegates may choose the candidate who loses the race in total votes or total pledged delegates.
Dean also that it is “total bullsh*t” that Pelosi or Gore will decide which candidate will be asked to pull out of the race.
The Financial Times and Political Radar reported:
“I think the race is going to come down to the perception in the last six or eight races of who the best opponent for McCain will be. I do not think in the long run it will come down to the popular vote or anything else.”
However, he added that it was highly unlikely that the superdelegates – of whom roughly 300 out of 800 remain undecided – would go against whichever candidate was ahead on the popular vote and among pledged delegates in practice. “I think it is very unlikely – I have never seen it happen. In fact it has never happened. But it is possible and they have every right to do it.”
Some commentators have speculated that if the race remains deadlocked after June 3 then a senior figure such as Al Gore, the former vice-president, or Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, could prevail on one of the candidates to withdraw – with most people focusing on Mrs Clinton.
But Mr Dean, who some have criticised for allegedly mismanaging the drawn-out primary calendar, dismissed that scenario as “total bullshit”.
Could this be the death knoll for Barack Obama?
Hat Tip Nahanni