The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

A Brokered Convention

a message from Pat Soberanis
forwarded by Brian Piergrossi
forwarded to you by The People For Peace Project
Hi everyone.
The facts below about delegates and the implications of a brokered convention are important to forward to all Kucinich supporters. I myself was not aware of several facts below and I know many others are not as well. So please read and forward.

By the way, for those who don't know, Dennis just had his best showing yet, getting over 30% of the vote in Hawaii, coming in second and beating John Edwards yet again, but of course the corporate conglomerate media doesn't want anybody to know that. Find ways and tools to become your own source of media. Keep up the great work.
6 MORE DAYS OF KUCINICH KRAZINESS STILL TO COME!!



This week's topic: A BROKERED CONVENTION

This week I met several people who came down from Seattle to
help get out the vote in California. I found out that Kucinich got
25% of the vote in counties - whole counties! - where there
was a strong door-to-door campaign - and in one woman's
precinct, he got 48%! Note to self: One-on-one discussion is
the key to overcoming a media blackout.

I also learned how convoluted the delegate selection process
is in the different states, and why Kucinich could well end up
with far more than the delegates he has now... Kucinich isn't
worried about the delegate count: He knows it will probably
be a brokered convention in July.

For one thing, the delegate counts you hear about in the
media are merely projections based on the statewide votes:
Kerry gets 40% in Wisconsin; they give him 40% of
Wisconsin's delegates. Kucinich gets 3%; they give him no
delegates, because you have to get 15 percent of the vote
to get even one delegate.

Two very important things they don't take into account: (1)
The 15% minimum applies to each *congressional district*
as well as the statewide tallies; and (2) Some states, such
as Iowa and Washington, will take weeks to select their
delegates, because they do not select them by direct
vote; instead, they select county delegates, who then
convene and select state delegates, who then convene
to select delegates for the national convention in July. So
we won't have a final count for months, and it could
change radically between now and then.

Here's another reason Kucinich isn't worried about his
small delegate count: With 500 or so delegates projected
for Kerry, and over 2,300 needed to win the nomination,
he would have to get virtually all of the remaining state
primary delegates, as well as most of the 800 or so
superdelegates, to win on the first vote, because he's
only been getting 40-50% of the vote in the primaries so far.

All of the Dean delegates - and he's asking his supporters
to vote for him anyway, even though he dropped out -
and all of the delegates that were split by candidates that
didn't get the required 15% vote - cannot go to Kerry on
the first vote. Repeat: The "floater" delegates (my term,
not the party's) cannot vote for Kerry on the first ballot
at the convention. They cannot because delegates are
pledged to vote only for their candidate on the first
ballot, and these are not Kerry delegates.

Therefore, the nominee will not be selected on the
first ballot. For the first time since 1952, this will be
a "brokered convention."

You see, after the first ballot, delegates are not bound
to vote for the candidate who sent them. But they
can negotiate: If you want our block of delegates, you
have to give us our plank in the party platform that
the nominee runs on. Or you have to pledge to appoint
our candidate to your cabinet if you win. And so on.

So, as Dennis says, this is the 135th mile of a 500-
mile race, and a lot can happen between now and then.
Who would have expected that Dean - who burned
through the entire $41 million he raised last year in
Iowa and New Hampshire alone - would have crashed
so spectacularly?

A lot can happen between now and the July convention.
This is your once-in-a lifetime chance to vote for an
honest politician. I guarantee you will not regret it.

Vote for Dennis Kucinich for President. He is absolutely
incorruptable, a man of and for the people, the Abe
Lincoln of our time. He is exactly what we have all
been waiting for.

Pat Soberanis

This message is being forwarded by The People For Peace Project
www.KucinichCD.com