IT’S THE 'Democrats’ nightmare scenario: A bitter nominating fight that lasts all the way to the national convention in late August, giving Republican John McCain a clear field for the entire summer, and leaving their own party split and dispirited even after they settle upon a standard-bearer.
And there’s increasing reason to be worried.
Although this campaign was informative and relatively mild for most of the winter, it has grown markedly more divisive in the last few weeks, with charges and recriminations flying.
New findings from Gallup show the peril that looms as the contest becomes more polarized, with 28 percent of Hillary Clinton supporters saying they would vote for McCain over Barack Obama and 19 percent of Obama supporters saying they would back the Republican over Clinton.
Adding to those concerns are recent suggestions by Clinton that she considers elected, or pledged, delegates fair game. That raises the prospect of a long summer in which her campaign battles not just to secure superdelegates, but also to lure pledged delegates away from Obama.
Bitterness and alienation will subside, but healing takes time, as does readying a nominee and a party for general election combat. So if the nominee isn’t known until the delegates vote at the August 25-28 convention in Denver, the party will be at a distinct disadvantage.
But one proposed solution is gaining currency among prominent Democrats and at the Democratic National Committee. That’s to have the superdelegates declare their preferences in early June, shortly after the last primaries in Montana and South Dakota.
‘‘Personally I think it would be very damaging to go all the way to August,’’ says US Senator John Kerry, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee and now an Obama supporter. ‘‘Once you get the primaries and caucuses under the party’s belt, it’s good for people to make it known where they are and resolve this.’’
The idea arose in part because of Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, who is pushing to have the party’s 795 superdelegates convene in June to cast their votes.
As it has evolved, however, the notion is not for an actual meeting of superdelegates, but simply to have those superdelegates who haven’t already done so declare their presidential choice shortly after the final primaries on June 3. That would give the party an unofficial nominee and thus make an internecine summer much less likely.
‘‘A number of people have talked to me about it,’’ says Jim Roosevelt, co-chairman of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, who is neutral in the race. ‘‘They have been saying, all right, if it is coming down to superdelegates, why wait for two and a half months to see where the superdelegates are?’’
The notion has also been discussed recently by congressional leaders and officials at the DNC. A source close to the congressional leadership says the feeling there is ‘‘let’s try to have it done in June, so it gets done sooner rather than later.’’
A person who has talked with DNC officials about the idea says they feel that the party’s preparations for the general election have been hurt by the primary standoff, and thus are keenly interested in having superdelegates declare their decisions once the primaries conclude. (For his part, Roosevelt thinks the party would be reluctant to undertake anything official, but says superdelegates are free to do whatever they’d like on their own.)
Although DNC chairman Howard Dean is reliably said to consider June pronouncements a good idea, the prompting for it to happen would most likely come not as a formal request from Dean or the DNC, but rather as high-profile calls from influential Democratic officeholders and leaders.
‘‘ I don’t think there will be a press conference, I think there will be a drumbeat: We’ve got to decide, we’ve got to decide,’’ says the last source. ‘‘It will be Democratic leaders, it will be superdelegates themselves, anybody who can get a megaphone.’’
Given their need to coalesce around a candidate as soon as practically possible, a June superdelegate declaration may offer Democrats their best way out of a difficult spot.
Scot Lehigh’s e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.
