Tag: primaries

In May, I published Peniel Cronin's ground-breaking research report on the injustices in the 2008 state caucuses. The original report is here, the June revised report is here. ( Posts on the follow-ups and revisions here.)

Ms. Cronin has just released her final report. The data charts for the report are here. The report contains new information and data as well as a rewritten Conclusion and a call for caucus reform.

Ms. Cronin stresses that the report is not about Obama-bashing. It is clearly about the flaws of the caucus as a voting system, as distinguished from its value as a forum of debate and discussion. Here's an excerpt from her conclusion: [More...]

This is an update to this morning's post about Peniel Cronin's latest report on the caucus vs. primary results in the Democratic presidential nomination race.

I sent her some questions I received from readers. She answers that her notes and figures are correct. However, to make it easier for readers to discern the difference in what she is saying, she has modified some of the wording in the footnotes.

The revised report is here. (The original report is here.)She adds: [More...]

Hot off the press and only available at TalkLeft: Peniel Cronin's revised Caucus v. Primary report with numbers updated to today, showing how the caucuses, compared to primaries, have unfairly disenfranchised voters. (Background and original report here.)

I want this report to get as much exposure as possible. Thus, this post will stay at the top of TalkLeft for several hours. New posts will be below it.

Some Findings:

• 35.6 million people have voted
• The 37 primary states account for 97% of the vote.
• The 13 caucus states account for 3% of the vote.

Bottom line: Clinton’s lead is from 34.5 million voters (97%) in Primaries. Obama’s lead is from 1.1 million voters (3%) in caucuses. [More...]

What has 2008 shown us in terms of the fairness of the Democratic nomination process? That the caucus system is neither fair nor representative.

Here's an interesting report on the differences between primaries and caucuses and the impact in the 2008 Presidential nomination. I am reprinting it with the permission of its author, P. Cronin. It addresses:

• Voter Suppression in Caucuses
• Disenfranchised Voter Groups & Statistics
• Differential in Voter Turnout Rates
• Popular Vote Disparity
• Estimated Voter Suppression in 2008 Caucuses
• Caucus Systems Distort Election Results
• Vote-spread Differences
• Disproportionate Votes-to-Delegates Ratio
• More Math of Electability
• Other Primary versus Caucus Considerations
• 2008 Democratic Election Snapshot
• What IF: Florida & Michigan

Some highlights are below, but I recommend reading the entire report. [More....]

Ira Chernus, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has written probably the most sobering article I've yet seen about the prospects for the Iraq occupation, and what can be expected from Democratic presidential candidates.