Deja vu vote: Will popular vote or the delegates decide nominee?

And now, there’s a horse race to the finish.

After Tuesday’s primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, there is reason to be thinking about a whole lot of what’s right and what’s wrong when it comes to the Democratic nomination for president.

Now that Clinton has claimed two more big victories, some are wondering what is going to happen if she is unable to catch Obama in the delegate count, which it seems likely she won’t.

She is already suggesting that the so-called “super delegates” should make their decisions independent of the popular vote. They should choose the right person to battle John McCain, she says, based on the information they have before them today, not the individual vote counts.

Obama, on the other hand, thinks the popular vote should rule and the super delegates should uphold the will of the people.

Doesn’t this controversy sound familiar?

Wasn’t there another election a few years back when a certain party — and a certain political figure — suggested that winning the popular vote was the critical measure for a candidate’s legitimacy? Funny how that view changes when the shoe is on the other foot.

But no matter how you look at it, the continuing drama that is the Democratic race for the nomination means one very important thing for North Carolina Democrats.

Your vote might actually matter.

Who knows, this state might even be a king-maker.

Better think long and hard about how to use the weapon wisely.

Published in Editorials on March 5, 2008 10:44 AM