"An '08 free-for-all" - LA TIMES

[rosesaylavee]

An '08 free-for-all
For the first time in decades, the conventions may pick the candidates.
By Norman Ornstein
July 26, 2007


Gingrich versus gore in 2008. Gore? Gingrich? They are not even running! But the possibility is not nearly as flaky as it sounds.

This election cycle creates a significant chance -- the first in modern memory -- that both parties could string out their presidential nominations until their conventions next summer. And if it's a convention free-for-all, delegates could as easily turn to alternatives as not.

The 2008 presidential election is the first in 80 years with no president or vice president running. It has seen the earliest start for top-tier candidates in history -- most were in and running hard by January. It has a more compressed schedule than ever before: Nearly two-thirds of delegates will be selected between the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14 and the slew of state primaries on Feb. 5.

....

How long delegates are bound to specific candidates varies from state to state, but few are committed beyond the second ballot. In a multiballot contest, all bets are off. Sooner or later -- mostly sooner -- delegates would be on their own to decide how long to stick with their candidate -- and whether to shift loyalties as directed. Delegates may split all over the lot when it comes to their second choice.

Anything could happen: days of inconclusive balloting; a deal between candidates to break the logjam; a spontaneous shift on the convention floor, perhaps (a la "The West Wing") driven by a barnburner speech; or even a move to draft a new figure who is unsullied by the long campaign. Thus, Newt Gingrich, the Republican most likely to electrify a convention with a red-meat conservative rallying cry. Or Al Gore, whose full-throated populism and call to fix the planet could excite Democrats.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-ornstein26jul26,0,2961058.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary

:popcorn: