Word: rulings
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...Perhaps the most important thing about Rule 13-B is that it has never really been tested before. Party officials approved the rule only in 1988, after Jesse Jackson and Michael Dukakis fought a bruising five-month battle for the nomination. Dukakis led the entire time, but Jackson did well, winning nearly 1,000 delegates along the way. But in a few key states, Jackson was shut out of any delegates by rules that permitted allocation on a winner-take-all basis. In exchange for supporting Dukakis in the fall, Jackson wanted those old-fashioned primaries eliminated and replaced with...
...primary campaigns since 1988, Democratic nominees have wrapped up their races with relative ease early on, meaning the proportional rule - and the full implications that come with a long, closely fought, three- or two-person race - have never been taken out for a drive. "We haven't seen anything like this," says Tad Devine, who hammered out 13-B in 1988 with his counterpart from the Jackson campaign (party rules maven Harold Ickes, who now works for Clinton). "We have always theorized about it, but it will be tested for the first time. Both candidates can keep collecting delegates...
...From here on out, Rule 13-B is what distinguishes the Democratic race from its Republican counterpart. The G.O.P. primaries are by and large winner-take-all affairs, expressly designed to winnow the field and produce a healthy front-runner and eliminate chaos. But in the Democratic contest, winnowing isn't part of the design; something closer to chaos is. Racking up delegates creates powerful leverage even for a second-place finisher. It gives an also-ran powerful cards to play at the convention for speaking rights, for rules changes - even a place on the ticket. Jackson, working without Rule...
...while, yes, next week's 22-state contest could produce a clear front-runner and the momentum needed to lock up the nomination quickly, it is much more likely, thanks to Rule 13-B, that the fight will go on to all the other states. "If someone gets ahead, this whole thing takes care of itself," says a Clinton delegate hunter put it, "but if you have a lengthy and contested fight, securing the nomination becomes a real challenge...
...pledged to any candidate. These boiler-room operations generate regular telephone calls from the candidates seeking support and pressure from donors to get behind one candidate or another, as well as discussion of possible jobs in a future Administration. The party created super-delegates after the 1980 election before Rule 13-B to prevent just the sort of confusion that could now unfold in the Democratic race...