The Delegate Count from All 50 States Will Determine the Nominee.

[MineralMan]

31. I doubt very much that any replacement for Clinton will be needed.

As for my faith in the Democratic Party being fair and honorable, I have a good deal of faith in that. I've been involved in Democratic electoral politics for a very long time. The nomination for President is carried out in a very fair way. It all depends on how people vote in caucuses and primaries and is very well designed.

Some people object to superdelegates, but even that is done to assure a fair outcome at the convention. Those delegates can choose for whom to vote at the convention. All of the rest are based on the votes at caucuses and conventions, and make up about 85% of the total delegate count.

What will decide who the nominee is will be the voting in all 50 states, and nothing else. It will be obvious where things are going following the March 1 caucuses and primaries and will be more and more apparent as additional primaries are held. As each state votes, the distribution of delegates will be transparent and obvious. Anyone will be able to watch and see the count and do their own calculations.

At some point before the convention date, the nominee will be known when the delegate count for that candidate exceeds the majority required to get the nomination. It's unlikely to be anything near a tie, actually, and the superdelegates won't be the deciding vote in 2016.

Right now, everyone's focused on the first two states to hold caucuses or primary elections. They will probably be closely divided, and delegates will be assigned based on the proportions of voters. And so on, throughout the primary season. We are not going to know who the nominee will be following them. It will be nearly tied.