IT'S EMERGING as the June solution in this spring of Democratic disquiet, a way to preclude a debilitating donnybrook that could rage all the way to the party's late August convention.
The idea, discussed here several weeks ago, is for all superdelegates to make their presidential preferences known shortly after the final primaries, on June 3.
Two former Democratic presidential nominees are now joining that call. Both George McGovern, the party's 1972 standard-bearer, and Mike Dukakis, its 1988 ticket-topper, tell me they think superdelegates should declare their allegiances soon after the primary season ends.
Since neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can secure the nomination without superdelegates, once they all announce their intentions, the party should know its de facto nominee. The trailing candidate would then face this choice: accept the reality of the delegate count or fight on in the hopes of luring delegates away. Unless the two rivals were virtually tied, the latter choice would rightly be seen as putting one's own slim chance of prevailing ahead of the party's need to coalesce around a candidate.
At this point, it's more likely that Obama would emerge as the unofficial nominee. Not only does he have a substantial lead in pledged delegates, he has steadily narrowed the superdelegate gap.
Still, it's conceivable that over the next seven weeks Clinton could win victories big and convincing enough to narrow the pledged delegate gap and bring superdelegates her way. Obama's gaffe about the supposed bitterness of small-town voters has certainly given her an opening in the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary.
Either way, a June superdelegate declaration wouldn't change the race's underlying reality, but simply accelerate a result that will be all but inevitable.
McGovern, who supports Clinton, says it's important for the party to know its nominee sooner rather than later. "We don't want an acrimonious battle all the way to the convention and maybe out onto the convention floor," said McGovern. "We had that in 1972, when I was nominated, and it was very damaging."
His inability to claim the nomination until he had won a floor fight over the seating of some of his delegates left little time for anything else, McGovern says, and thereby contributed to the political disaster of his first vice-presidential pick.
"We even set aside naming a running mate, and when we finally picked somebody, I got Senator [Thomas] Eagleton, only to learn that he had had a long history of mental illness," McGovern recalls. "That was a devastating blow to the campaign. I think if we had had a little more time and a chance to thoroughly vet anyone who was being considered for my running mate, we would have avoided the whole Eagleton problem." That controversy made an uphill climb even steeper.
Dukakis, who had emerged as the presumptive nominee by late April of 1988, agrees that once the primaries are over, all superdelegates should decide.
"If they haven't made up their minds before that, I certainly think superdelegates ought to make up their minds in June," says the former Massachusetts governor. "If the thing comes to a conclusion in June, the nominee will have plenty of time to do some planning and to take some time picking a running mate." And, adds the man who remains a great believer in grass-roots politics, time to organize every single precinct in the country.
John Kerry, the party's 2004 nominee and now an Obama supporter, also backs the idea. And since DNC chairman Howard Dean said he'd like superdelegates to specify their preferences by July 1, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid have also endorsed the concept. Add to those voices US Rep. Barney Frank, a Clinton supporter, who said yesterday that superdelegates really should have declared already - and certainly should do so by early June. "It's not in our interest to wait until August to get a nominee," he said.
Regardless of whether one supports Obama or Clinton, all Democrats should back a June superdelegate declaration as a way to prevent political chaos.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.
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