What does Obama supporter Ted Kennedy say about taking it all the way to the convention?

[NNN0LHI]

http://cassandra2004.blogspot.com/2008/02/open-convention-ted-kennedy-1980-dnc.html

Kennedy came into the Democratic convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City with 1,225 delegates to Carter's 1,981 and 122 uncommitted. Kennedy's only chance to wrest the nomination from Carter, who had enough delegates to win, was to pass an "open rule" motion.

Joe Trippi was on the convention floor the evening of Aug. 11, 1980, marshalling the Kennedy delegations from Texas and Utah. He remembers the deciding vote as "the robot rule vote," which came after an hour-long debate that played out in front of a prime time television audience. The debate was over whether delegates should have to vote for the candidate they'd been pledged for, or have an "open" vote during which they could pick Kennedy or Carter, Trippi recalled in an interview. The back story being that the economic and international political situation had deteriorated between the time most people voted and the time of the convention, opening the door to Kennedy, who was billed as a change candidate. "It went all the way down to the wire," said Trippi, who was an adviser to Edwards' 2008 campaign.

Kennedy had no real basis to undo the delegate commitments except for the fact that the domestic and foreign situation had grown worse since each of the primaries. That was a flimsy pretext not founded in law or party rules. I can recall the controversy leading up to that convention, in which numerous Democrat elected officials spoke out one way or the other. I recall Robert Byrd speaking in favor of the "open convention" motion, even though he professed to support Jimmy Carter on the ultimate nomination battle. I also recall Jimmy Carter repeatedly denouncing the idea of a convention decided in "smoke filled rooms" instead of on the basis of the primary votes.

[saltpoint]

1. I personally feel that Carter is wonderful owing to his work post-Oval Office,

but was less than thrilled with his presidency. Many of us knew that he would not win re-election long before the first primary, let alone the convention.

Many of us preferred Ted Kennedy to Carter.

Also we knew that Reagan was enhancing his profile and could see the coming storm.

Barry Commoner and LaDonna Harris also ran for the White House that year and made some excellent points on labor and the environment that the Carter camp simply refused to address in serious detail. That was an astonishing point and led many Democrats to Kennedy's challenge over Carter's incumbency.

[joeybee12]

2. He'll probably keep his trap shut, because people will bring this up if he

mentions the problems with taking this to the convention. Of course, he could bring it up and apologize for his actions in 1980.

yeah, right.

[JoFerret]

3. I think he will have the sense to keep quiet on this one

.

[joeybee12]

4. You're probably right, since everyone else seems to have weighed in on it...

...and nothing from Teddy.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Keep in mind that Carter was the incumbent president when all this happened

I was 25 years old.

Don

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I Remember That Convention Like It Was Yesterday

Edward Bennet Williams argued Ted Kennedy's case to have the delegates released on the Convention Floor...I supported Ted Kennedy at the time but now I see how it must have embarrassed Carter...

In retrospect neither Kennedy or Carter would not have beat Reagan but Kennedy might have made it closer because John Anderson wouldn't have run...

[JoFerret]

7. Indeed. It wasn't a primary to beat a republican president but a

challenge to a democratic president. deeply divisive. doomed to fail. and signalled the end reall of ted's presidential possibilities.