If Democrats Were Smart

The Democratic primary process has created a great many discussions about super delegates. Both parties have such people. The Republicans don't have as many and they call them something different.

I'm actually a fan of super delegates. If a candidate cannot win enough delegates to lock up the nomination they probably can't win in the fall. Super delegates allow the party to see that they don't have the right candidate.

The front runner is Barrak Obama, and he will carry his lead into the convention. But he does not have enough pledged delegates to guarantee the nomination. Further, he runs weakly in Democratic majority states, as well as swing states. He dominated states the Republicans will almost assuredly win in November.

So what are the Dems to do? If they are smart, the super delegates will refuse to vote for either Hillary or Obama. They will let the convention go through a couple ballots, at which time the pledged delegates become free agents. At that time they will promise both Hillary and Obama cabinet posts and trot out a dark horse candidate. The name that comes to mind here is Evan Bayh of Indiana. He has good credentials, lots of experience and good political connections. He's a bit more moderate and would attract a lot of moderate voters who would otherwise be attracted to McCain.

Wouldn't such a move hand the election to John McCain? Not necessarily. Dark horse candidates have done well historically. It would certainly be preferable to having the party split and run two Democratic tickets.

While this would be the smart thing to do, I don't think this current crop of dems is smart enough to figure this out, even if I tell them. So it will likely be Obama running in November, or a split party putting forward two tickets.