Maybe I'm still reeling from one too many shots of Goldslagger last night. Maybe this never-ending primary is making me bitter.
Maybe I'm just bored at work.
So just for fun, let me throw a crazy idea against the wall: Jesse Jackson, if he wanted, could turn this primary election on its head and force Hillary to concede. How? By running as an Indepedent candidate for President of the United States!
Remember, this is just for fun. I don't think for an Altoona minute that this would ever happen. Nor would I support it.
But for the pleasure of what-if kicks, here me out:
For this exercise, it's important to remember that Jesse Jackson is no political slouch. In 1988, he captured 6.9 million votes and won 13 contests -- seven primaries and six caucuses. He was even considered the frontrunner at one point after he won 55% of the vote in Michigan and surpassed all the other candidates in pledged delegates.
Jesse Jackson is a well known figure, if not a bit conterversial. He's also an Obama supporter, having endorsed the senator last year over his friend Hillary. Jackson remains very popular among blacks. In a 2006 poll, blacks chose Jackson and Condaleeza Rice as the most important black leaders.
Here's my crazy plan:
Sometime in the next week, Jesse Jackson announces that he is forming an exploratory committee to run as an Independent. Using his established name recognition, he sets out to gether the hundreds of thousands of signatures he needs to be put on the ballot in key states.
Here's the catch: Jackson will only run for President if Hillary insists on overturning the will of the voters through coup by superdelegate. If Hillary wins the nominiation through coup by superdelegate, many African American and young voters would, rightfully, be incensed. Yet most would not stomach the idea of voting for John McCain. Enter Jesse Jackson.
If Obama wins the nomination, of course, Jackson will end his shortlived campaign.
What kind of impact might Jackson have in a general election race alongside McCain, Clinton and Ralph Nader? His 1988 primary campaign proved that he can appeal to a large group of Democratic voters. The NY Times compared Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign to his less successful 1984 campaign and made the following observations:
Mr. Jackson clearly made something of a breakthrough among whites, more than doubling his share of the white vote. Looked at the figures another way, 31 percent of the total ballots cast for Mr. Jackson this year came from white voters, compared to 20 percent his 1984 ballots.
In 1988, Jackson received more than 90 percent of the black vote and collected 2.1 million white votes in the primary. An Independent run by Jackson in 2008 (again, only if Obama were not the Democratic nominee) might prove even more succeessful.
Could Jackson win? No. But neither could Hillary Clinton beat John McCain win without the support of the diverse coalition of voters that now support Obama.
A serious run by Jackson would put Hillary in a box. Having forced out Obama through a coup by superdelegate, she would have to work like mad to bring his supporters to her side. A late entry by Jackson would make it virtually impossible for the Democratic party to fully unite behind her. Many would turn to Jackson as a form of protest.
Hillary would not let this happen. Knowing her chances of securing the nomination are already slim, the emergence of a Jackson campaign would force her to throw her hands in the air and condede now, giving Obama the nomination. If she persisted, the Democratic party would surely splinter and John McCain would become the next president.
There's my crazy idea for the day. Would I support such a notion? Of course not. But heck, it was either write this diary or go back to counting decimal points.