Saturday 1 March 2008: Automatic Assignment of 797 Unpledged Delegates.

The unpledged party leader and elected official delegates are assigned automatically by virtue of respective public or Party office as provided in Rule 8.A. of the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules.

Saturday 31 May 2008: Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting

The main item of business on the Committee's agenda will be the consideration of two pending challenges regarding the seating of the Florida and Michigan Delegations. The Committee will hear proposals from Michigan State University Trustee Joel Ferguson and Florida party official Jon Ausman.

Commentary Friday 30 May 2008
WEEKEND WARRIORS
Battles over Florida and Michigan shadow
the electoral battle in Puerto Rico
by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

The seating of these delegations is discussed in our commentary series "THEATRE OF THE POLITICALLY ABSURD ... The Relationship between State Law and Party Rules and the 'Punishing' of the former where violative of the latter" by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

• Sunday March 16, 2008 (PART ONE)
• Wednesday March 19, 2008 (PART TWO)
• Thursday March 20, 2008 (PART THREE)

"Vox Populi" ('Letters to the Editor' on this website) in response to the above pieces were those dated

• Saturday March 22, 2008
• Friday, March 28, 2008
• Friday, April 4, 2008

CORRECTION: The changes made at the Saturday 31 May 2008 Democratic Rules and Bylaws meeting give Florida 211 * 50% = 105.5 delegates and Michigan 157 * 50% = 78.5 delegates. There are now 4,234 delegates with 2,117.5 needed to nominate.

Monday 25 August - Thursday 28 August 2008: 45th Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado

"The rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention call for the following formula to be used in determining the allocation of delegate votes to each state and jurisdiction sending a delegation to the Convention:

Each state plus the District of Columbia is to be assigned a number of Base delegate votes based on an "Allocation Factor" multiplied by 3,000 (the optimum minimum size of a Democratic National Convention as determined by the Democratic National Committee): a state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" being a decimal fraction arrived at through a calculation involving the following factors-

1. the state's (or D.C.'s) popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (in this case: 1996, 2000 and 2004). This is the "State's Democratic Vote" [SDV].
2. the total popular vote for the Democratic candidate for President in the three Presidential Elections just previous to the Convention (again, in this case: 1996, 2000 and 2004). This is the "Total Democratic Vote" [TDV].
3. the state's Electoral Vote [SEV] and
4. the total Electoral Vote [TEV] (538)

The formula for determining a given state's (or D.C.'s) "Allocation Factor" [AF] is:

The number of Base delegate votes assigned to a state is AF × 3000. Of these Base delegate votes, 75% are assigned to be district delegate votes and the remaining 25% are to be at-large delegate votes. In addition to these Base delegate votes, the state (and D.C.) are awarded a number of Pledged "Party Leaders and Elected Officials" [PLEOs] equal to 15% of the number of Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000 formula described above. There are also delegate votes from U.S. dependencies which do not cast Electoral Votes for President in a General Election. PUERTO RICO is considered, for purposes of the Convention, to have a Base delegate vote of 44; the special case of the other dependencies sending delegations to the Democratic National Convention will be considered below. These delegate votes described so far (making up a number equal to 115% of the total Base delegate votes as determined by the "Allocation Factor" × 3000) are pledged, prior to the first meeting of the Convention, to the support of a presidential contender who earns the support of such delegate votes by virtue of his performance as measured by the votes cast by Democratic voters in primaries and caucuses and/or by Democratic delegates to state and/or sub-state conventions held in each state prior to the Convention.

The states (and D.C.) are also assigned a number of "Unpledged" delegates:

1. "Unpledged PLEOs" consisting of the following:
   1. Democratic National Committee members.
   2. Democratic Members of Congress (U.S. Senators and Representatives, except those who are to be Pledged PLEOs).
   3. Democratic Governors, except those who are already members of the Democratic National Committee and, therefore, are delegates re: a.) above.
   4. Distinguished Party Leaders (current and former U.S. Presidents and Vice-Presidents, former Democratic Leaders of the U.S. Senate and U.S, House- including former Democratic Speakers of the House and former chairmen of the Democratic National Committee. and
   
   
2. Unpledged "add-on"s (chosen based on the vote of the members of the Democratic National Committee).
   1. These "Unpledged" delegates go to the Convention officially "Unpledged" (that is, not committed- ahead of time- to vote for any particular presidential contender), though it is well known that many- if not most- of these may very well be privately supporting a presidential contender. The number of these "Unpledged" delegates to the Democratic National Convention is subject to change up to the first meeting of the Convention due to deaths, resignations from office (for those PLEOs who hold an elective office) or accession- by a Democrat- to an elective office through an intervening election or special election. In addition, any Unpledged PLEO who shall subsequently become a Pledged PLEO may further alter the number of Unpledged National Convention delegates within a given delegation."

There will actually be more delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention than there are delegate votes [which is why I use the term "delegate votes" in the first place]. Some states will have more delegate seats than actual delegate votes at that Convention [as a result of which, some delegates from some states will have to cast fractional votes during roll calls on the Convention floor]. There will be 4,050 delegate votes at the 45th Democratic National Convention, but there will be 4,070 actual delegates on the floor of the Convention (in other words, 20 more delegates than votes)... here's why:

• AMERICAN SAMOA, with 9 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates.
  • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
  • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each cast 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
  • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
• GUAM, with 8 delegate votes, will have 11 delegates
  • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
  • 1 unpledged delegate (Democratic Member of Congress) casts 1 vote for a total of 1 votes;
  • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
• VIRGIN ISLANDS, with 9 delegate votes, will have 12 delegates
  • 6 at-large pledged delegates each cast ½ (or .5) vote for a total of 3 votes;
  • 2 unpledged delegates (Governor and Democratic Member of Congress) each casts 1 vote for a total of 2 votes;
  • 4 unpledged Democratic National Committee members each casts 1 vote for a total of 4 votes.
• DEMOCRATS ABROAD, with 11 delegate votes, will have 22 delegates. The makeup of the DEMOCRATS ABROAD delegation will be:
  • 9 regional delegates [a .5 vote each]= 4.5 regional delegate votes;
  • 3 at-large delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1.5 at-large delegate votes;
  • 2 Pledged PLEO delegates [a .5 vote each]= 1 Pledged PLEO delegate vote;
  • 8 Unpledged PLEO delegates [a 0.5 vote each]= 4 Unpledged PLEO delegate votes.

"In a relative handful of cases, a Member of Congress or a Governor is also a member of the Democratic National Committee (in some of these cases, such as that of the Democrats' Congressional Leaders- House Minority Leader Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Daschle- Members of Congress are DNC members ex-officio; in other cases, however, they represent various associated committees or organizations affiliated with the DNC: for example, U.S. Senators [other than Daschle] sit on the DNC as representatives of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee- likewise, Congressmen [other than Gephardt] and Governors sit on the DNC as representatives of, respectively, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors' Association); the Democratic Party lists these Unpledged PLEOs who are DNC members as well as holders of elective office solely as DNC members (in other words, as far as the Party is concerned, these people are "Party Leaders" more than "Elected Officials"). However, it is the considered opinion of "The Green Papers" that the average user of this web site is going to think of these few Unpledged PLEOs who are in the unique position of being both PLs AND EOs more in terms of their elected office than their DNC membership: as a result, "The Green Papers" has "converted" DNC members who happen also to be Governors, Senators and Representatives to their political office from their DNC membership. Therefore, the breakdown in each state or other jurisdiction of Unpledged PLEOs as posted on "The Green Papers" may differ somewhat from that put out by the Democratic Party itself: where this is the case, it is so indicated on the appropriate DEMOCRAT page for the affected state or other jurisdiction."

Replacing Unpledged Delegates

Unpledged delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except under the following conditions:

1. Members of Congress and Democratic Governors shall not be entitled to name a replacement. In the event of changes or vacancies in the state's Congressional Delegation, following the official confirmation and prior to the commencement of the national convention, the DNC Secretary shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by he Democratic Caucus of the U. S. House of Representatives or the Democratic Conference of the U. S. Senate. In the event of a change or vacancy in he state's office of Governor, the DNC shall recognize only such changes as have been officially recognized by he Democratic Governors' Association.
2. Members of the DNC and unpledged Add-on delegates shall not be entitled to a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to a replacement, except in the case of death of such delegates. In the case where the state's DNC membership changes following the DNC Secretary's official confirmation, but prior to the commencement of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, acknowledgment by the Secretary of the new DNC member certification shall constitute verification of the corresponding change of unpledged delegates.
3. Distinguished Party Leader delegates allocated to the state pursuant to Rule 8.A.(5) shall not be entitled to name a replacement, nor shall the state be entitled to name a replacement.
4. In no case may an alternate cast a vote for an unpledged delegate.

Terminology:

• PLEOs = Party Leaders and Elected Officials.
• Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons = Superdelegates.
• District + at-large delegates = Base delegates.
• Base delegates + Pledged PLEOs are the only delegates chosen through a Democratic presidential Primary or Caucus/Convention procedure and, thus, allocated to presidential contenders.
• All Unpledged delegates (Unpledged PLEOs + add-ons) are automatically uncommitted and are held aside rather than allocated to presidential contenders through a Primary or Caucus/Convention.