Democrats turn to bracketology to pick Presidential nominee
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WASHINGTON D.C — The Democratic National Committee announced today that it will pick its Presidential nominee using the NCAA basketball bracket method, choosing one state to “determine the party’s candidate.”
The announcement took many by surprise including those who were looking to the April 22 Pennsylvania primary as the deciding race to determine the Democratic nominee. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are running neck-and-neck in the delegate count, having split the primaries and caucuses conducted so far.
With a Republican nominee almost set in stone, the uncertainty has been worrying many Democrats, leading to the DNC’s historic revelation today.
“Seriously, if we didn’t use the word bracket, who the hell would listen to us anyway?” said DNC Chairman Howard Dean, adding that he predicted Davidson would upset Georgetown on his NCAA basketball bracket.
The Presidential bracket will feature a field of 48 states that will serve as the roadmap to the August convention with Hawaii and Alaska excluded for their non-contiguousness.
The number one seeds in the four regions are Texas, California, Illinois and Pennsylvania, a shock to those who were expecting to see New York and Iowa on that list.
After a sex scandal ended with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation, the DNC decided to give the state a lower profile in the primary-caucus bracket process, Dean noted.
“As for Iowa – well, for one, their conference strength is debatable. I mean, they play Nebraska and North Dakota. It’s not exactly the big leagues in corn country,” Dean said. “Also, fuck Iowa.”
How exactly are the Final Four chosen? Well, the field of 48 is whittled down to 24 by the DNC’s bracketology committee – a secret group of party elders, elected officials and mythical creatures – who pick the battle of the states based on past performance, upset potential and large margins of minority voters (Hispanic voters are worth 3 points, black voters 2 and Asians/gays will each receive 1.5 points). Those 24 are then reduced to 12 – the “privileged Twelve” – by the same method.
Finally, four out of the “Privileged Twelve” states are picked based on size, population, minority votes and weather. Voters will have a week where they can text their votes to the DNC for who they think should go into the championship round, then another week to text or call in their votes on which state’s primary or caucus should settle the Obama-Clinton battle once and for all.
Delegates are split according to the state that wins, but super delegates can choose to back any candidate they prefer.
“This is a complicated matter because bracketology is an unproven science,” said Mick Jones, a professor of political science at American University. “You could have a low-seeded, small state like Delaware with a fairly insignificant minority population determining this race because they catch Texas or California on an off day.”
Despite the news, both Clinton and Obama said they will continue to focus on the Pennsylvania primary although the Obama camp has begun setting up “Text for Change” booths on campuses across the country to encourage younger voters to participate in the Final Four round.
– USA Tomorrow Staff Member Toby O’Notterby contributed some stuff to this here article.
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