2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: ANTHONY WEINER: I have one big question for Bernie Sanders [View all]dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)There was controversy where a couple of states moved their primaries earlier than the party authorized, so the party decided to invalidate their primaries. Obama didn't run in those states, in at least one of them I don't even thinkk his namee was on the ballot. Hillary still "kind of" ran in those states, and her name was on the ballots. In the end, the Clinton camp was claiming (falsely I think) to have won the popular vote, I don't have the numbers on hand but IIRC they were including the states where Obama had done what the party wanted and not campaigned, Hillary had many more votes in those states and they weren't properly contested.
Already we're seeing rumors of not allowing Bernie on the ballot in states where being a registered Democrat in your home state is a requirement (even though registration in Vermont is not party-based so it is literally impossible for Bernie to register there as a Democrat). If this happens, I can already see the scenarios where the Clinton camp will claim victory based on those states, or claim the popular vote based on totals including where Bernie is kept off the ballot.
We'll see. It should be about the people, not about the party, and the further away from that principle the party goes, the less legitimate it becomes.