Passion Runs High for Democrats by Gene Lyons

[russian33]

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But can Democrats screw up the presidential contest anyway? Many are starting to think so. The possibility that neither Sen. Barack Obama nor Sen. Hillary Clinton will win enough delegates to lock up the nomination before the August convention has tensions running high. The prospect of so-called “superdelegates,” i.e. senators, congressmen and other Democratic office-holders, deciding the nominee has led to great anxiety, particularly among Obama supporters.

If party rules aren’t interpreted to their satisfaction, some say they’ll quit the game, take their ball and go home. Longtime Democratic operative Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s 2000 campaign, has announced that if “superdelegates” settle the contest, she’ll abandon the party.

Writing in his influential Open Left weblog, Chris Bowers warns, “if someone is nominated for POTUS from the Democratic Party despite another candidate receiving more popular support from Democratic primary voters and caucus goers, I will resign as local precinct captain, resign my seat on the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee, immediately cease all fundraising for all Democrats, refuse to endorse the Democratic ‘nominee’…and otherwise disengage from the Democratic Party.”

Several things must be said. First, everybody making such threats needs to take a deep breath and calm down. This isn’t about you, your hurt feelings, or your pure, unsullied idealism. It’s about the future of our country. Any Democrat who can’t concede that either Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama would be an enormous improvement over President Bush or the bellicose, irascible Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has no business participating in politics to begin with.

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http://www.bartcop.com/lyons-feb1208.htm