While Candidates Can Lose a Primary by Not Getting Any Delegates, Nobody WINS

[MineralMan]

a primary caucus or election. Everyone who is viable wins some delegates who will go to the Democratic Nominating Convention.

There is no single winner of any primary unless only one person gets delegates allocated to him or her.

So, it's a mistake to say that "Sew N. Sow" WON a primary. Everyone who wins delegates is also a winner. Only at the Convention is there a primary winner, who then becomes the Democratic nominee.

That's a very important distinction when talking about primaries.

[Tiggeroshii]

1. .

[MineralMan]

5. You find that amusing?

Well, then when Bernie Sanders gets a few delegates in South Carolina, you'll say he lost and recommend that he assign them to Joe Biden?

I don't think you're really paying attention to what I said, somehow.

[Tiggeroshii]

6. I think you are moving the goalposts.

On the day of the iowa caucuses when your guy is not expected to perform well. And it is hilarious.

[MineralMan]

9. Not at all. I don't have any idea how many delegates each of the candidates

will earn in Iowa, and neither do you. All go into the total number of delegates one at the Convention, though.

You do understand how this all works, right?

[Tiggeroshii]

12. Sorry. It doesnt quite work that way.

But keep dreaming.

[Amimnoch]

11. Well then, if it's not about fairness but of goalpoasts...

Let's go ahead and bring back the goalposts to their old spot, and bring back the superdelegates voting right out the starting gate, eh?

Since we don't like those goal posts moved.

[Tiggeroshii]

15. You mean change the rules in the middle of the game?

You folks are getting desperate...

[highplainsdem]

16. +1,000,000

[highplainsdem]

14. The one who's trying to move the goalposts is Sanders, since his people are saying he'll focus on

the first round results rather than the second round and final results.

That's like announcing you've won in an election that will require a runoff.

That shows a certain amount of insecurity.

[Tiggeroshii]

17. Saying "nobody wins" is absolutely silly.

How to determine a winner is another beast all on it's own. But to say that if Biden won in all four categories, that he didnt win, is absolute nonesense.

[Hortensis]

20. I've been deploring the possibility that Sanders could

win any delegates at all. I want 0 but would have been thrilled at anything less than 300. But it's definitely looking like my hope that he won't once again bring a bunch of hostile "lock her up" types to cause trouble at the Democratic convention is going to be disappointed.

So this OP is not moving the goalposts, it's just reminding people that all candidates who get 15% or more in primaries win delegates toward the nomination and to the convention. Those who don't make 15% don't.

[Tiggeroshii]

22. To say "nobody wins" is an oversimplification of the entire process

And misleading. And yes, seeming to adjust expectations so that his candidate doesnt seem to do as poorly as they are (aka moving goalposts).

[TheRealNorth]

24. Exactly

It's been a longtime tradition that whoever gets the most caucas votes is announced the "winner" of the caucuses, even if the difference in won delegates is negligible.

If your candidate doesn't do well, your energy is best spent trying to right the ship instead of spinning the results.

[melman]

2. LOL

[MineralMan]

3. So, you won't be pleased if Bernie gets some delegates in states

where he did not get the most votes? You'll think that's funny, and that he lost? I doubt it very much.

[Tiggeroshii]

8. You ever play a game before?

If you get more points you win. If you get less, you lose. Kinda like any single caucus or primary, but instead of points, you use delegates.

[MineralMan]

10. The Winner Is Only Determined at the Convention.

The Winner is our party's nominee. Individual state's high vote is irrelevant. It is the delegates that count. How hard is that to undestand?

[Tiggeroshii]

19. Yes. The process has rounds. Yet those rounds can still be won or lost.

And the end winner is decided by the results of those rounds. But the rounds themselves are still won or lost.

[thesquanderer]

26. Of course it is possible to win or lose state contests on the way to the convention.

To say otherwise is like saying it's impossible to win or lose a baseball game, because all that matters is the World Series.

[melman]

23. No

What I find funny is the nonsense take that there are no winners which is clearly an attempt to make it seem like the results don't matter. Which is obviously due to the results being very likely not to your liking.


It's painfully obvious and totally ridiculous. LOL

[getagrip_already]

4. Agree, you can lose primary elections, but winning only comes at the end....

And if you are talking about the first 2 races, all you will have are losers. The "winners" won't be far enough apart to get a good spit shot between. That will come later.

There are recent examples where a candidate lost the initial races, but won the nom. There are also examples of winning more votes than the nominee, but losing on delegate count.

Neither is cause to claim vote rigging or some kind of evil plot. It's just what happens.

[MineralMan]

7. Yes, but every delegate adds to the total number of delegates

for every candidate who gets some. The second or third place candidate in one state might need those delegates later to have a majority. Funny how that works.

[getagrip_already]

13. delagates are proportionally distributed.....

It's not winner take all. As long as they get above a min threshold, they will be awarded delegates.

For example, in '16 clinton got 23 delegates and sanders got 21 in Iowa. Likewise, sanders got 6 more than clinton in NH. They both got delegates.

[4139]

18. If Biden does not do real well in Iowa, Bloomberg will be one of the winners

...and he won’t even get one delegate

[Quixote1818]

21. Tell that to all the news media outlets.

Good luck with that. LOL

[squirecam]

25. Nope

Someone gets the most votes tonight. That person gets the most delegates.

That person won.