The First Democratc Candidate has entered the Race. Who will be the next & who should s/he/they be?

[merrily]

132. What? No primaries? How far back are you going? John Adams?

RFK was running in a primary when he got shot.

I am not much of a conspiracy theorist. I have no clue why Sirhan Sirhan shot RFK and I dont' believe you do, either, however sincerely sure you may feel you do. For one thing, Sirhan Sirhan could have gotten himself out of jail with that info, or at least helped a friend make a bazillion dollars on a book telling the "real" story of the assassination, but, please, let's not divert into that subject.

Back to the topic: City machines did not pick Presidents when RFK ran and they still don't. Sure, they may recommend and support a candidate for POTUS until he bubbles up to national attention. Obama's predecessor in Chicago helped do that for him when she took him around to her donors. But cities don't pick Presidents.

More importantly, I think you may be missing my point entirely. Even if the form in which the fix is in, as it is visible to us, looks somewhat different, the candidates are still handpicked, and earlier and earlier in the cycle. I don't think it's any coincidence that keynote speakers at the convention often end up running for POTUS four to eight years later. I think there's a pipeline. Right now, I'd guess Castro is in it and may have been since before the 2012 convention.

The primaries are less Democratic, not more. The nominating Presidential convention has turned into an overly expensive, overly embarrassing, overly produced show--no more floor fights. No more RFK running around the floor to the head of a delegation to tell him his delegation had to vote JFK on the first ballot, not the second.

Even if you are correct about why RFK got shot, today, no one would have had to risk that some assassin might have a big mouth just to keep RFK out of the the Oval Office. They would just have to keep their donors' money away from him before and during the primary and fail to have party stars show up to campaign for him during the primary. Instead, they would funnel money, endorsements, etc. to their pick, while attacking RFK on behalf of the chosen one.

Bottom line" I don't think you are going to convince me and I don't think I am going to convince you. And I am kind of tired of posting on this same subject. Maybe we can share views about something else some other day. Meanwhile, I'm moving on to other DU threads.