TPM: What is this thing called the credentials committee? [View All]

[antigop]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/lowdown_on_credentials_committ.php

So, after talking to the Democratic National Committee about this, here's the deal on how the credentials committee works.

There are a total of 186 members on the credentials committee. Twenty five of them are appointed by DNC chair Howard Dean, and the remainder are alloted by state, in numbers based on each state's population and Democratic performance.

The process that determines how those credential committee members are split between the candidates is a convoluted one. But the gist of it is that each state's delegation to the credentials committee is allocated between the candidates in a number that's proportional to the number of pledged delegates he or she has won in that state.

So Hillary could conceivably get a marginally higher proportion of members on the committee out of bigger states, which she's won more of. But the bottom line is that in the end the breakdown on the committee will hew very closely to the overall breakdown of pledged delegates. So presuming things continue as they have, Hillary will not have a majority, and Obama will have more members on the committee than she does.

Then what happens?