Deinonychus antirrhopus

Passing the Torch

This is kinda/sorta a followup to my Presumptive Nominee post. Hugh Hewitt wrote an interesting piece entitled The Torricelli Option: Will Dems Dump Kerry?

Dems know he's a loser. But can anything be done?

Who knows? Don't bother looking up the rules governing nominations. There were rules in Florida, and the Florida Supreme Court tore those up when Gore needed help. There were rules in New Jersey, but when Torricelli flamed, the New Jersey Supreme Court tossed those aside. There were rules in California, and three judges ordered a halt to the recall that only went forward because the luck of an en banc draw brought sanity to the review panel.

So how exactly would the Torricelli Option work? Short of trumping up some outlandish criminal charges agaist Kerry that is. Either Kerry will have to fall on his own figurative sword (ignominiously withdrawing) like the Torch did, or the Powers That Be in the Democrat party will have to somehow force through some rules changes at the convention, allowing the delegates to vote freely on the first ballot.

I just don't see someone with Kerry's ego dropping out on his own accord. "Defeating George Bush is the most important goal for Democrats, urrr, I mean the country. I realize now that I am inadequate to the task, so therefore I will not accept the nomination, for the good of the party, urrr, I mean country." I don't think even J.K. Rowlings could make that scenario plausible.

So we're left with a rules change prior to / during the convention. Who within the party establishment would have the chutzpah to make the call? Certainly not Terry McAulliffe, since it would show what a blunder his front-loaded primary plan was.

Hillary can't do it either, since it would appear that she's after the nomination. That would be just too blatantly venal even for her.

From Hewitt's piece:

And Dean – what's he thinking when he can get the voices to quiet down? He was robbed, you know ... by the same people now conspiring against Kerry. Dean doesn't forget, and there's not enough Ambien in America to get him a night's sleep. What if, with another yell, he decides to demand an open convention. "Let the delegates vote!" isn't a bad slogan. Bring back all the orange hats and the blog and all that. Quite a party could be had by all.

That smells of possibility, if it could be turned into a groundswell during the convention.

I know, this is just wild speculation. Most likely, the calls for Kerry's ouster will die down over the next month.

Posted by at April 29, 2004 01:07 PM