The Democrats' Double Irony
TYLER, GUS
Countdown '76 THE DEMOCRATS' DOUBLE IRONY BY GUS TYLER Because Reinhold Niebuhr was in love with iroft'y?God's way, he said, of teaching humility to the self-righteous—he would have been...
...The great rules revisions will seem a farce...
...Hence the Democrats have almost a dozen aspirants officially seeking the nomination...
...Countdown '76 THE DEMOCRATS' DOUBLE IRONY BY GUS TYLER Because Reinhold Niebuhr was in love with iroft'y?God's way, he said, of teaching humility to the self-righteous—he would have been delighted by this year's competition for the Democratic Presidential nomination...
...Nor does his frustration end there...
...The truth is, he doesn't issue IOUs...
...When, for example, New Yorkers go to vote in their primary on April 6, they will be confronted with a ballot that may drive them right out of the polling booth, if not out of their minds...
...Even George Wallace has managed to make himself look middle-of-the-roadish: A New York Times/CBS poll of early February noted that Wallace was "rated as a liberal by 23 per cent, a moderate by 17 per cent and a conservative by 34 per cent," with 26 per cent uncertain...
...The Senator from Massachusetts has a superb machine...
...Yet they will discover that the names of the candidates are not on the ballot...
...To deny Kennedy or Humphrey the nomination, however, would be to deny the people's choice...
...The answer is Yes for Kennedy, and probably No for Humphrey...
...Given this mare's nest, it is hardly surprising that so many people are ending up as confused and bored spectators with little appetite for the game...
...In the mid-February caucuses in Oklahoma, for instance, uncommitted delegates made up 40 per cent of those chosen—as compared to 18 per cent for front-runner Carter and 17 per cent for native son Harris...
...The Minnesota Senator has no machine...
...Wallace counts on his old casting as the populist conservative...
...But many candidates do not make for many voters...
...Quite the opposite: Numbed by the numerous options available, the voter goes limp, paralyzed by puzzlement...
...To begin with, because the rules call for the election of national convention delegates either through the proportional breakdown of a statewide vote or on a district-by-district basis, politicians who believe they can win as little as, say, 20 per cent of a primary vote or can pick up a few district victories are tempted to enter a state race...
...In other words, they will have to be machine-made...
...They must know—in advance—which delegates are pledged to whom...
...But he has never come to these men—or to any others—to call in political IOUs...
...In many cases, Presidential hopefuls are insisting that prospective delegates sign a written pledge agreeing to stick with their man at the convention until formally released, despite rules declaring them free after the first ballot...
...It is well financed by virtue of the family's millions, and well geared with hundreds of honchos who count their political days by the Kennedy hours...
...In New York this is further complicated by the fact that people who want to be delegates may pledge themselves to a candidate even though the candidate himself has not sponsored them, and will be listed separately on the ballot as "unauthorized...
...Yet without a machine Humphrey would have a hard time carrying the primaries...
...At this point, no hopeful seems likely to come to New York with the convention in his pocket...
...And if that happens, then?as Niebuhr loved to note—we will have witnessed an exquisite "double irony...
...Presumably, they will have made a choice between the various candidates, or decided to support delegates who are specifically "uncommitted...
...So far, however, their stated positions apparently have given the impression of being similar...
...The final touch is that when the delegates gather in New York this July 11, the greatest number will probably be pledged to no one at all...
...Indeed, without a personal organization, it is virtually impossible to win the nomination under the present Democratic regulations...
...Where it does not, the entire slate—if elected—is subject to challenge...
...Morris Udall on his being a suburbane Bayh...
...Were Teddy to declare, there is little doubt that this organization, together with the millions of votes that are already his—from Catholics who would make their choice on the basis of religion, from the young, and from those who were young when John F. Kennedy was elected—could win him the nomination...
...For while the new system demands openness, it also insists on a pre-ordered pattern, with so many females, so many blacks, and so forth...
...To reconcile these obvious ir-reconcilables, every candidate for the Presidency is obliged to choreograph a charade...
...others will choose to run...
...But even those individuals who wish to play an active role in the electoral process, to do more than merely vote, are finding obstacles thrown in their path by the self-contradictory party rules...
...To notify voters on who is pledged to him, a Presidential hopeful may issue "palm cards," miniature replicas of the voting machine showing where his slate of delegates is located...
...Polls show that the rank and file's choice is either Edward M. Kennedy or Hubert H. Humphrey...
...Some of these will drop out...
...Henry Jackson on his toughness...
...Yet should Kennedy or Humphrey be named, the whole brouhaha about Democratic reform will have been reduced to a sopho-moric rhubarb, since the nominee would be someone who bypassed the primaries...
...Jimmy Carter on his pleasantry...
...His strength would be his selection by "power brokers" who want to win...
...But this is likely to be less effective than one might think, since the position of the slates on the voting machines will vary from district to district...
...He is more responsible for the national successes of Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern than any person in American politics...
...Whatever the pros and cons of these procedures, the process is the ultimate in bossism...
...Yet out of such a convention could issue a nominee who would be the best possible choice—appealing to both the party professionals and the general electorate...
...The decisions are made from the top...
...In short, whatever the party does, the result will ring of irony...
...For a set of party rules, evolved after 1968 to ban bossism and promote "participation," is doing just the opposite...
...He must convene state caucauses to produce a slate of delegates reflecting the proper demographic mix...
...Instead of producing coherent and detailed programs, the candidates seem to be trying to build distinct images...
...if he does not run, HHH is the clear winner...
...That would make this year's Democratic convention the most brokered since the nomination of Woodrow Wilson in 1912—a true irony in this age of reform...
...To forestall this, the Presidential aspirant and his henchmen must themselves either put together a prescribed slate before the caucus actually meets or, as in New York State, have the power to remove or replace any objectionable names proposed by the caucus...
...In 1972, he counted on the unions—who were not set up for the party primaries and came to his support rather late in the pre-convention process...
...He wonders why "they" cannot get together and agree on some known figure—like Kennedy or Humphrey...
...Either way, the candidate can make certain that those on his slate are totally loyal to him...
...In 1968, his base was the White House of Lyndon B. Johnson...
...For contrary to original intentions, the new system actually discourages participation by ordinary voters, those not already tied to a man by personality or patronage...
...The candidate may well have to be chosen through negotiations among leaders in control of tightly held delegations...
...Would things be different if Kennedy or Humphrey entered the primaries...
...After all, the man who succeeds in collecting a delegate here and a delegate there across the country will come to Madison Square Garden as a somebody, able to wheel and deal...
...He has always depended on outside organizations and individual contacts...
...In his early years, it was the Americans for Democratic Action—a weak weapon that, during the Vietnam days, turned against him...
...Conceivably, the chaos of this year's primaries would be somewhat dispelled if the Democratic candidates had strikingly different programs...
...He has neither the personal funds nor the beholden following...
...Clearly, those who allow themselves to be drawn into the electoral process by going to the polls over the next few months will have to be well schooled and highly disciplined...
...All else is a play of showy shadows...
...Fred Harris on his more recent stance as the populist radical...
...Though Humphrey is commonly viewed as the ultimate political pro, he has habitually refrained from making personal lackeys out of those he has helped...
...If Kennedy runs, he noses out Humphrey...
Vol. 59 • March 1976 • No. 6
