Harry Reid: Brokered convention 'not the end of the world'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

MICHELLE L. PRICE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday said it was possible the crowded Democratic primary race was headed toward a contentious convention fight and downplayed the political dangers of a scenario many party leaders are dreading.

“I don’t think we’ll have one, but we could have one,” Reid told The Associated Press in an interview days before the Democratic caucuses in his home state of Nevada. “We’ve had brokered conventions before, and we’ve always come up with good candidates. It’s not the end of the world. It just slows the process down.”

Reid’s attitude is a sharp contrast to many in the Democratic establishment who are anxious about the prospect of a long, contentious primary race in which several candidates divide up the vote and no one amasses more than 50% of the delegates ahead of the July convention. A brokered convention, in which party bosses or delegates in floor fights and negotiations decide the nominee, hasn’t happened since the invention of the modern primary system five decades ago. Many believe it would fracture the party and delay its shift to focusing on the common goal: defeating President Donald Trump.

Still, the 78-year-old Reid, who retired in early 2017 after a long career as a party power broker, offered no other path to arriving at the nomination. Reid suggested that the Democratic National Committee delegates should decide the nominee if the party’s leading candidate does not have a majority of delegates required to win.



Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid listens during an interview Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)


Read more: https://apnews.com/00781a7dc0b5fa5d3cf2c584aa975fe0

[VarryOn]

1. Until I see a brokered convention...

I don't believe one will happen. Nearly every four years, this notion comes up for either Democrats or Republicans. At the end of the day, things settle well beforehand.

[2naSalit]

3. Keep his head warm?

He's 78 and suffered a terrible injury that caused him to retire, he was also in a wheelchair. Maybe he has scars from surgery to his eye after his injury.

[Polybius]

4. I did not know that

I wish him well.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Harry is stag 4

Pancreatic Cancer.

[gab13by13]

6. Sounds like a great idea to me,

let's let super delegates pick our nominee.

[Magoo48]

7. Dust ups and flying fur won't hurt us if we all come out willing to support our nominee.

If the worst should happen when all is said and done, at 72, I won’t be upgrading my passport but rather will be raising as much ruckus on be half of the land I’ve lived on and the community I’ve lived with. So, Go Democrats...

[IronLionZion]

8. Dems have superdelegates to put their thumb on the scale

[stillcool]

9. who else would be super-delegates...

it is a Democratic primary, or is it not?

[IronLionZion]

10. The other party doesn't have superdelegates

it's unique to our party and subverts the will of the voters.

[stillcool]

11. which other party?

I know the threat is there, and see no reason for it, but it sounds like the super-delegate threat is just a set-up for an independent third-party run. Is that it?

[IronLionZion]

12. The Grand Old Party, Republicans

they keep it simple and let their voters decide, even if their voters are deplorable and nominate a flaming pile of bull manure. It just feels more Democratic.

[stillcool]

13. yeah...it does.

it's like leaving the safe open and expecting no one to make use of it, if they have the chance. But then, rules are like that. Bent until broken, replaced with new ones. The GOP only cares about rules they impose on others. They have their own way of picking their poison.

[maxsolomon]

14. I'd like to see it, personally.

The field is too crowded and relatively level.

Also-rans (I won't name them in this forum) need to GTFO immediately after Super Tuesday.