"Taking it to the Convention"

[yodermon]

I have to go jump on a plane so I apologize for the post-n-run, but can someone explain what "Taking it to the Convention" *actually means* in real-world, practical terms? If all the Super D's have committed publicly, then what does Hillary hope to accomplish by "taking it to the convention?" What will she literally, phycially do there, "at the convention"? I mean, the delegates will cast their votes, and then it's over, right?

Apologies if I seem obtuse here, but everyone bandies about this terms as if they know what they're talking about, and as if it's some big huge issue, and I'm just in the dark.

Thanks. I'll check in on the thread later this eve. if it hasn't sunk, which I'm sure it will.
:hi:

[NeedleCast]

1. Nothing is "official" until the convention

It's at the convention that the delegates, both pledged and super, will actually cast their "ballot" for Obama or Hillary. That's why we call both Obama and McCain the presumptive nominee. McCain, like Obama, is simply the presumptive nominee of the Republican party right now. Please believe that this doesn't mean it's not over. IT is. At this point the only thing that can save Hillary is a massive defection of super-delegates and the trend has showed pretty much the exact opposite of that, with some 20-30 supers pledging to Obama in the last 48 hours and several switching from Clinton to Obama.

To answer your question a different way, both parties ALWAYS take it to convention. It's not until convention that we'll have an official announcement of Obama as the nominee but that wont stop any sane person from understanding that Obama is going to be the nominee.

Edit: The way Hillary and her most die-hard supporters use Taking it Convention is more of a threat (at least in their minds). It's the threat that Hillary will continue to campaign until the convention. It's not much of a threat, because Hillary has no money and the party has at this point almost completely moved to supporting Obama, but that wont stop camp Hillary from shouting it as loudly as possible until she officially drops out or suspends (and even then I suspect many of them will keep barking about it).

[uppityperson]

4. And my take on what that means is it risks alienating more rather than pulling together.

Rather than shifting the focus to fighting McCain, it will keep the sniping between Clinton and Obama. Rather than asking supporters to throw their support behind McCain, it ends up being a 3 way race, with the dem vote split, splintered and the gop taking it again.

[Lucky 13]

2. I THINK what it means is....

... between now and August, she will continue to hound, bully, coerce, strong-arm, and threaten superdelegates to switch from Obama to her. (Like Mr. Clinton calling Mr. Clyburn expletives yesterday.) She will also target already PLEDGED or ELECTED delegates to get them to change over - despite being CLEARLY morally wrong, even if legal. She will get a band of supporters together, consisting mostly of Harriet Christian types to storm the floor of the convention and do what they do best - DISRUPT.

And then, when all the delegate votes are tallied and he has the majority and is officially named our nominee, she will have one of 2 choices:
1) Admit defeat and concede. This option is unlikely since the concept of grace eludes her
2) Give a last rallying cry for her remaining nutbag supporters to start some sort of 3rd party or write in campaign for her.

[godai]

3. On the first ballot, Clinton keeps her current delegates.

She apparently hopes for something bad to happen to Obama in the meantine, to change SD votes on that 1st ballot to her. She says this is for her daughter.