1. One more excuse to get the Electoral College wiped out.

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   P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.

2. I grew up in New York, where at least in the 60s and 70s, the presidential candidates were not on the primary ballot. In each congressional district for the Democrats, a presidential candidate would have to recruit people to run as delegate candidates for their slate. Often the regular organization would run uncommitted slates.

   In 1968, after Robert F. Kennedy was killed the night of the California primary, the Kennedy slates — expected to win in a lot of districts, although the Eugene McCarthy slates were strong in some liberal NYC districts and the uncommitted (Hubert Humphrey) slates strong in others. The New York primary was then the last one, in late June. I can’t recall what the Kennedy slates did, but I’m sure some of them got elected to the convention.

   In 1972, I was working for a slate in my Brooklyn/Queens district on which my college friend was one of the six or so candidates. Our only opposition was a “regular” slate of delegates put out by Kings County party leaders, and they all also endorsed McGovern and were putting out leaflets and other info saying so. The basic work of the campaign was convincing primary voters that we were the slate supported by Sen. McGovern, which we did. (I went to the Miami Beach convention that year.)

   In 1976, some of my friends were running on slates favoring Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh. Bayh dropped out long before the NYS primary, and they were courted by other campaigns of late-starting campaigns that didn’t have their own slates on the ballot (Sen. Frank Church, Gov. Brown). Pretty much all of the candidates had hard times filling delegate slates in every district.

   According to the NY Times on April 7, 1976, the day after the primary, eight upstate districts were won by uncommitted slates put forth by county party leaders, and at least some of those delegates announced they were supporting Hubert Humphrey (who ultimately didn’t run). Sen. Henry Jackson won the most delegates, but far from a majority, with Rep. Mo Udall (whom I supported) second and Jimmy Carter third. The other three candidates who had slates of delegates — Sen. Fred Harris, antiabortion activist Ellen McCormick, and George Wallace — won no delegates anywhere. The preliminary figures were: Jackson 107, Udall 69, Uncommitted 65, Carter 33.

   I should note the slates were made up of individual candidates, so that a C.D. might have delegate winners from different slates.

   So you can see what a mess this kind of system had.

   In June of 1976, in the similar New Jersey primary, when Jimmy Carter — by then the acknowledged obvious nominee — was expected to win, he was beaten by an uncommitted slate. The front page Times headline (secondary article) was “Humphrey-Brown Slate Victorious in New Jersey.” They were supporting anyone but Carter at this point and the article says they were especially strong in districts where Udall was expected to do well because apparently some Udall supporters voted for them as having the better chance of winning. (The Wikipedia article on 1976 Democratic primaries mistakenly lists Carter as the NJ primary winner.)

   A recent article compared the current GOP race to the similarly overcrowded 1976 Democratic race. Even as Carter kept losing later primaries — to Jackson, to Brown, to Church, to uncommitted — he acquired enough delegates to be the certain nominee.

   Watch for something similar to happen in the Republican race next spring. It is not impossible for Trump to win the nomination.

3. Also, in 1988, the Florida Democratic primary had changed to a slate-of-delegates race for the only time in its history. This was done to favor the candidacy of former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, who got the most prominent Democratic legislators, members of Congress, local officials, to run on his slates. But by the time of the Florida primary, Askew had dropped out. So did California Sen. Alan Cranston, who had slates in a lot of districts.

   Gary Hart, who won the New Hampshire primary, had failed to find delegate candidates in most districts.

   Walter Mondale had filed slates in most districts, and Jesse Jackson had them in many urban districts, but this kind of primary — listing individual candidates for delegates — was a mess.

   I was running myself as a humorous candidate for the Democratic nomination I filed to run as a delegate candidate supporting myself, and I tricked my mom into signing to run as an alternate delegate candidate supporting me.

   The Miami Herald had a story on March 12, 1984, “His Mother’s Choice”:

   Richard Grayson has described himself as “South Florida’s favorite grandson candidate.”

   In this case, favorite son might be more appropriate. Grayson is running as a candidate for delegate to the Democratic National Convention, supporting himself, of course. Grayson’s mother, Marilyn, is also on the ballot as an alternate candidate.

   But trouble may be afoot. After his surprise win in the New Hampshire primary, Colorado Sen. Gary Hart found himself with no candidates for delegate in some Florida congressional districts. Hart managed to corral delegate candidates formerly pledged to presidential dropouts Alan Cranston and Reubin Askew, but his campaign staff also called Marilyn Grayson to ask if she’d support Hart.

   “I can’t believe it, but she said she’d consider it,” Grayson said. “I said to her, ‘Mom, do you think Miss Lillian would do this to Jimmy?’”

   At last report Mrs.Grayson had decided to stick with her son, the relieved candidate reported.

   *

   In case you’re wondering, the Hollywood Sun-Tattler had an article the day after the primary, “‘Favorite Grandson’ Bid Flops in Primary”:

   Florida’s “favorite grandson” presidential candidate, Richard Grayson, saw his campaign go up in smoke in the Super Tuesday primary. Grayson, running as an officially uncommitted delegate, garnered only 4,210 votes, far below the totals of his district’s four winning delegate candidates, who support former Vice President Walter Mondale.

   “I think I did pretty well,” said the Broward Community College teacher. “I beat all the Jesse Jackson delegates and the guy left over from ’72 who was still supporting George McGovern.”

   Still, Grayson’s showing was surpassed by someone in his own family.

   Marilyn Grayson, Richard Grayson’s mother, received 7,522 votes for alternate delegate – over 3,000 votes more than her presidential candidate son, who expressed no jealousy and vowed not to drop out of the race.

   “Mom’s showing plus mine proves my campaign has grassroots support,” Grayson said. “I’m the grass and she’s the roots.”

   — Anyway, delegate-slate primaries are messy.

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