In Democrats' Primary Mess, Democracy Is Real Loser

Info on the Democratic candidates is pouring out, too late for most voters to get much out of it, Walter Shapiro complains in Salon. "Most Democratic voters will have chosen between Clinton and Obama back in February," he gripes, and the voting that produced Obama's delegate lead is dated—its “potency as an expression of the pure popular will” is aging rapidly.

Even worse is Clinton's argument that poll numbers show she's a stronger candidate: “People are very mediocre predictors of their own future behavior,” one pollster said. With a stalemate looming, Shapiro’s hoping for a landslide mandate—"the only possible way of achieving clarity in this Democratic race for president is a clear-cut verdict from the final burst of primaries."