General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ''Every seat in the theater in LA filled up so Bernie went outside to talk to the people ... '' [View all]karynnj
(60,767 posts)IF someone else gets more votes than Bernie, he/she will be the nominee. It is up to Vermont Democrats. The only thing the party did was to ASK Bernie to get his name on the ballot. He agreed, but then said that if he won he would decline the designation. That was an honest thing to do, rather than running without saying that. The fact is - he is easily the most popular politician in the state. (Note Howard Dean got nowhere near 85% of the primary vote in 2004 - that number reflects how popular he is - though most people did not think he had a chance to win the nomination from Hillary.)
By the way, consider that in Massachusetts, a candidate needs 15% of the delegates at the party convention to get on the Democratic primary ballot at all -- Vermont does not do that. You just need a relatively small number of signatures by Vermont voters.