by Mark Silva
Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, says the party's over -- that is, the contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- in June.
"We want the voters to have their say. That's over on June 3," Dean said on ABC News' Good Morning America. Although party rules enable the superdelegates to wait until the presidential nominating convention on Aug. 25 to make a choice, Dean says the party cannot wait that long if it hopes to beat Republican John McCain in November.
"We really can't have a divided convention. If we do it's going to be very hard to heal the party afterwards," Dean said today. "So we'll know who the nominee is, and that'll give us an extra 2 1/2 months to get our party together, heal the wounds of having a very closely divided race and take on Sen. McCain."
Dean isn't saying which of the two Democrats will have to step aside in June. "Either of these candidates, if it's time for them to go, they'll know it and they will go,. They don't need any pushing from me. You know when to get in and you know when to get out. That's just part of the deal."
Dean reiterated this prediction on NBC News' Today : "Five hundred of the 800 unpledged delegates have already said who they are for. The remaining 300 will do that by the end of June and we'll know who our nominee is and that's what we need to do.''




Comments
Like Howard would know. The supers are under no mandate to listen to him and neither is any democrat. This is the man who said "we must follow the rules" up until last month when he vowed that Florida and Michigan "will be seated." You have to wonder if he can even lead himself to the bathroom without assistance.
Posted by: Jeff | April 28, 2008 2:04 PM
let's face it
THERE ARE MILLIONS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO HAVE YET TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARIES
there is but ONE simple and humble question that is the number one priority before them and MANY are trying their best to distract them from that ONE question;
Do you love your country ?
(if you care more about other issues such as party or race or gender or age than you do about your country, then do what your going to do and get it over with)
but to those who CARE about the future of you country:
you should be promoting whichever candidate is most likely to be the best President for the United States of America
and that is the only issue before you
let's face it - there is no crystal ball - we can't be SURE of what will happen in the future -- and if you think you can, then see a doctor as there are medicines for your condition - do not go stephen king on us and hide in a balcony with a sniper rifle (like christopher walken) at a town hall so you can get rid of the "evil" candidate (martin sheen).
All kidding aside, the TRUTH is we can't see the future but we are obligated to try our best to choose the person who would most likely do the best job for our country.
The TRUTH is that ANY of the major three candidates still left in the race ALL have a very GOOD chance of becoming the next president - NONE of them are a lock and NONE of them can be written off.
MANY ARE ONLY WORRIED ABOUT "ELECTABILITY" (especially among democrats most recently)
if you like none of the above, then vote for none of the above
but otherwise vote/support for whomever you think will be best for your country and do not let yourself be distracted by issues of race or gender or electability or age
Think about WHY everyone is talking lately about who would most likely be the best "candidate" instead of who would most likely be the best "president" ?
the answer is -- hillary desperately wants the "who would be the best candidate ?" question to be THE main/only topic for debate instead of "who would make the best president ?" and therefore hillary constantly steers the debate in that direction (24/7) !!!!!!!
***********************
she does this because of all the obvious baggage she carries that would likely make her a less effective president
AND
she also steers the question in that direction because she can't pass obama in popular vote or elected delegates, so she MUST make something like "electabilty" the EXCUSE for superdelegates to vote AGAINST the will of the voters.
*************************
everyone knows bill C. would be a HUGE distraction if hillary were able to become president
*************************
everyone knows there would be trust issues from "day one" if Hillary were elected
***************************
and everyone knows that another clinton presidency would bring along with it a spirit of divisiveness which would continue to permeate politics for the next decade as it has done for the last two decades
**************************
everyone knows hillary's health plan has zero chance of making it into law
**************************
the ONLY argument hillary can make for being a better president than obama is the experience argument - an argument which not only does NOT stand up to scrutiny for her but IF it is true that experience matters most, then we should all vote for mccain
if you love your country, you should be focusing upon who would most likely be best president of your country - and nothing else - no matter how much someone tries to distract you from that task
Posted by: Facing IT | April 28, 2008 3:12 PM
The official vote will be taken at the convention. Till then their vote is as binding as the polls before any other election; subject to change.
The drama continues.
Posted by: whatnow | April 28, 2008 4:06 PM
Dean is a joke. Only the DNC could screw up an election year when half the country is angry with Republicans. Indiana is the key. If Obama wins Indiana, Clinton may concede. If Clinton wins, this mud wrestling will continue to the convention.
Posted by: Herbie H. | April 28, 2008 4:33 PM
Herbie, do you think Wright just handed Indiana to Hillary? And maybe North Carolina?
Posted by: Jeff | April 28, 2008 5:19 PM
So happy to see Hillary moving UP in the polls. I voted for her in my state primary and contributed to her campaign.
Hillary is the most qualified and electable candidate for President and I will support her all the way to the White House (baggage and all).
I hope the remaining superdelegates endorse her and a solution to Florida and Michigan is reached, so she can focus on the general election.
BTW: Obama will make a great Vice-President and can run again in 2016, when he has more experience.
HILLARY, OUR NEXT PRESIDENT !!!
Posted by: tsr | April 28, 2008 6:26 PM
Jeff, I think it is doubtful that Hillary will win NC, but Indiana is definitely in play. If it wasn't for parts of Indiana being under Chicago's media blanket, I think Hillary would win handily. The schism between blue collar democrats and w(h)ine & cheese liberals continues to grow.
Posted by: Herbie H. | April 28, 2008 11:08 PM