While I am not quite as given-up on our "Useless Media" as some, the Super Tuesday coverage was driving both +Margie Kleerup and me mad.
(1) "Winning" a state doesn't mean what you think it means, Big Network Coverage Talking Heads; we don't have winner-take-all selections as in most general presidential elections. States all have zany delegate distrubution mechanisms, each subtly different, along the lines of "Candidates scoring over X% will get a proportional number of delegates in that district, and, on a statewide basis, from the at-large delegates, but candidates scoring over 50% in a district will get all of the delegates, unless it's dark on Tuesday." Throw in the Super-Delegates, and the bottom line is that a state that Candidate Y may only mean that Y got 60% of the delegates and Candidate Z got 40%.
That's cool for Candidate Y, but it's not an out-and-out "win." Candidate Z is still going to get delegates out of the deal.
(2) There are multiple GOP candidates in the race. "Winning" a state for them generally doesn't mean a majority vote, but a plurality vote. If Trump gets 39%, Rubio 37%, and Cruz 15%, Trump "won," but he still had less than half the votes in the state, which means he didn't win, he just loss less badly than the others. And, per (1), he'll still get only a fraction of the delegates.
It's this last point that the GOP leadership are counting on as a way to keep Trump under the magic number needed to win on the first ballot at the convention in Cleveland. If they can do that, then those delegates are released to vote on their on, which means (they think) the delegates will then vote for a candidate the GOP leadership approve of.
Yeah, we'll see how that works out.
Super Tuesday results: Clinton, Trump win big; Cruz takes Texas
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton carved out dominant positions in their party nominating races on Super Tuesday, marching ever closer to a scorched-earth general election clash.
I really think it's time to start petitioning the RNC to allow guns at the convention. I mean, it's their right as Americans, isn't it?
As one that has proudly given up on our useless press, this whole won thing has been driving me nuts for a month.
+Stan Pedzick Last night was the first time we'd (briefly) tuned in any "Election Center XYZ" coverage. I'd forgotten how little I missed it.
I did hear one illuminating item on the radio. If Cruz had gotten over 50% of the Texas vote, he would have gotten all the delegates. He didn't.
+John E. Bredehoft Yeah, I've seen that clause (or variations of it) in a number of states.