Michael Barone in a U.S. News and World report says about the Democratic proportional delegate nomination and Puerto Rico: “And they aren’t likely to be proportionately distributed.”

You might find this four month old article interesting despite the fact that his prognosis for Hillary did not turn out so well, but if he is proven right in the upcoming primary about the Puerto Rican Democrats, you will see some first class irony, unintended consequences and inconsistency. I didn’t say hypocrisy, but you decide. Then take a look at what Wikipedia tells us about Puerto Rican voting in Presidential Elections:

“The major differences between Puerto Rico and the states are:

• Puerto Rico does not have the rights of a state as granted by the US constitution, because it is not a state. These include:
  • Lack of voting representation in either house of the U.S. Congress, as the US Constitution provides these rights only to full states. The only delegate to the Congress is an elected Resident Commissioner who represents the people of P.R. in the United States House of Representatives. The delegate may speak but cannot vote for final passage of congressional legislation, and may serve and vote in committees, as well as the Committee of the Whole.
  • The ineligibility of Puerto Rican residents to vote in presidential elections, as the US Constitution provides these rights only to full states. (Note, residents the [[District of Columbia only attained this right in 1960 by a constitutional amendment.) P.R. does not have any electors in the U.S. Electoral College, although the Puerto Rico chapters of the Republican and Democratic parties can (and do) have state-like voting delegations to their respective nominating conventions, as well as voting representation in the Democratic and Republican National Committee.

So let’s see here:

1. If Puerto Rican voters and their Democratic Party officials on June 1, 2008 give all their delegates (63) to Barack Obama he will be the Democratic Presidential Nominee is in the primary in June 2008. At the time of this post, he only lacks 43. If Puerto Rico goes all for Hillary, then Barack will have to wait until June 3, 2008 assuming the Rules Committee has not punted.

2. But these Puerto Rican Democrats join their Republican comrades in that they are all ineligible to vote in the general election in November 2008 for that same nominee.

The artifacts of history create interesting situations, to say the least.

Last 5 posts by Jimmy Justo

• Jeffrey Toobin of Best Political Team On CNN, “ITS OVER” – May 31st, 2008
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