It is pretty clear that the Democratic is split in a way and to a degree that we have not seen in a long time, maybe not since 1860. Democrats in Florida and Michigan have both been trying to find some way to "redo" their primaries, so that they can get delegates to this summer's convention. From the point of the view of the Democratic electorate in each state, this would clearly be a good thing. In fact, if they could get primaries scheduled for June, they would likely have a disproportionate influence on the outcome. This would be a useful corrective to the pernicious idea that going first always means more influence, which idea got these two states into the pickle jar in the first place.
It now looks like neither state with have a redo contest. To be certain, there were awesome problems involved in staging new events in the remaining time. But these problems, even if they are insurmountable (and I do not believe that), are not the reason that the efforts have failed. What has happened is that both the Barack Democrats and the Clinton Democrats are sufficiently powerful in each state to block any redo event that is not designed to produce a victory for the one or the other. I am guessing that it is the Obama faction that is chiefly responsible for blocking any action, since he has the most to lose in either state.
But doesn't this seem eerily familiar? It is an echo of the 2000 election aftermath, when Al Gore was trying to get a recount designed to give him the victory, and the Bush organization successfully blocked any such move. Only now it is happening within one party. The Clinton and Obama factions are as well organized against each other, all the way down into the state party organizations, as the Republicans and Democrats are. This, as Mr. Spock would have, is fascinating.
In the past such an intra-party split would have virtually guaranteed a victory by the other side. But just now the Republican party is so weak nationally that it is hard to believe in that. Almost certainly the losing Democratic faction will dissolve after a candidate is finally nominated. If that does not happen, then we are in for a period of dysfunction government. I am not sure that the American system can work with the current two parties. I am pretty confident it cannot work with three.
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