Not to imply that the Republicans are any better. However the primary electoral process for the Democratic Party does seem strange. There are delegates and super delegates. This sounds like royalty and peasantry with the royals over ruling the peasants. The super delegates are not beholden to the electorate, but the party machine.

Some of us are old enough to remember the conventions of old. Every state nominated a “favorite son” who then went to the convention and brokered the best deal for his state. These conventions lasted for days and many elections were held and back room deals were made.

Eugene McCarthy changed all of that in the sixties. He had the audacity to run against the party machine and ran in state-by-state primaries. Goldwater followed his model in the Republican Party changing it as well. From that point forward the primaries took on new meaning. This ran fairly well for a number of years until egos overcame common sense.

The rush to be first has gotten to the point where we are holding primaries fifteen months before the general elections. Talk about voter fatigue. This has changed the whole dynamic of the primary. Almost all of the pundits and pollsters were wrong this election cycle. The reverse of most predictions occurred. Going into the cycle the “smart money” was on a Hillary versus Giuliani general election. McCain, Obama and Huckabee were considered non-starters.

Now the race has come down to McCain on the Republican ticket and the Democrats are still battling it out between Hillary and Obama. Furthermore it also turns out that the Democratic Party isn’t democratic. There are elected and non-elected delegates who get to choose who is the standard bearer for the party.

We now find out the Democrats are clinging to the “smoke filled rooms” where back room deals are made with special interest groups. Mayor Daily and “Boss Tweed” are looking down at us with glee.

At this time Barack Obama has over 100 delegate votes more than Hillary Clinton. Neither candidate can get enough votes (2025) to win without the non elected super delegates.

The race has become very intense and personal with accusations on both sides. This is compounded by racial and sexual overtones. Both candidates appear to be painting themselves into corners. Some people argue that blue state numbers are more valuable red state numbers. Another option would be to let Florida and Michigan vote over.

It appears that the Democratic Party will be settled by a brokered convention again. Regardless of which war the super delegates go there will be chaos.

This problem would not exist if the Democratic Party were democratic. Why can’t the Democratic Party be democratic?