On today’s BradCast, Bernie Sanders meets with President Obama, who endorses Hillary Clinton; A look at recent convention battles and whether they suggest Sanders should drop out before the DNC’s July convention; And we receive comment from Los Angeles County’s chief election official on the seemingly alarming number of Provisional Ballots handed out to voters on Tuesday in the nation’s largest voting jurisdiction.
First up, some breaking news from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which has now upheld the Constitutionality of restrictions on concealed carry weapons. Then, Bernie Sanders meets with President Obama at the White House, vows to work with Hillary Clinton to defeat Trump, but promises once again to continue his fight through next week’s primary in D.C. and all the way through the Democratic National Convention in July. And President Obama finally endorses Hillary Clinton.
Next, we’re joined by John Judis, formerly of The New Republic, now a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of seven books, included his latest, The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics
. Judis, who voted for Sanders, nonetheless argues that it’s now time for Sanders to bow out and endorse Clinton. He cites two recent historic examples of convention floor fights (Ford/Reagan in 1976 and Carter/Kennedy in 1980, not to mention the mess in 1968) to buttress his case.
Earlier this week at Talking Points Memo, Judis, who acknowledges “Clinton has a lot of weaknesses”, nonetheless argued that Sanders should get out after California and endorse Clinton no matter who ended up winning the primary here. “What concerned me was that the Sanders people would take a win in California as a reason to really go fight it out at the convention, and I thought that that would be a terrible mistake for the party and for the country, because of what I’ve seen happen at those kind of conventions,” he tells me today. “It’s in the interest of people who are Democrats, liberals who are queasy about Donald Trump becoming our next President, to do what they can to help her. And having a big convention battle will not help her.” He offers much more on today’s show.
Finally today, the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan offers us response to concerns about the seemingly huge number of Provisional Ballots cast during Tuesday’s primary. As we reported in detail on yesterday’s BradCast (which included a bonus second hour of callers from across Southern California, both voters and poll workers alike, describing problems at the polling place on Tuesday), voters cast some 240,000 provisionals in L.A. County alone. Between those and the still-untallied Vote-by-Mail ballots, there still more than half a million untallied ballots in the County.
But, following yesterday’s program and my query to Logan about the large number of provisionals, he conceded the number does appear “high, but not disproportionately so, compared to other major elections and given the Primary-specific elements everyone was dealing with.” Today, as he had promised, he sent more details with provisional ballot numbers from recent comparable elections in 2008 and 2012, which he believes supports the case that the numbers from Tuesday aren’t as disturbing as they may seem at first glance.
Logan also responds to concerns about the many reports we’ve been receiving and reporting on since Tuesday regarding voters being told they had requested a Vote-by-Mail ballot when they attempted to vote at the polling place, even though the voters say they had made no such request. He explains that he’s found a number of such voters had registered online and — either accidentally or due to poor “design of the original online registration application” — had selected the box that would have made them a Permanent Vote-by-Mail “without intention or understanding”. He adds, however, “that is speculative” at the moment, as more investigation and counting of those ballots moves forward. He has told me that L.A. County generally is able to verify and include about 85 to 90 percent of provisional ballots in their final certified results.
His complete response, and a few thoughts of my own in regard to this latest mess — and so many before it — now serving to mar confidence in the results of another important election, on today’s BradCast…
Poll book vendors in these states where everything is screwed. Tax payers/state Atty Gen should hold the vendors feet to fire. Who are these companies? And what states use who? Scytl, Hart intercivic…/ mitt Romney?
The problem is that Clinton’s ‘weaknesses’ are felonies, crimes against humanity, corruption and possibly treason. Who in their right mind would to hand power to that!
Carol Davidek-Walle, quite right.
I’d rather have Trump than Clinton, and nothing she can say wipes out her record. Trump, at least, is not a war criminal. And I think Trump will, in fact, win — and, in very unpredictable ways, will not be the president at all like he is a campaigner, which is a completely different job.
Coming from my socialist POV, I think the current, and future with Clinton, neocon, neolib, war mongering, country destroying, and corrupt gangsterism that’s been going on will likely end in the death of the human species. Much of the rest of the world thinks so too: they go by what she has done (destruction of Libya,and work to destroy Syria for example, and trying to start a war with Russia now), not the lies and stories she tells. A vote for Clinton is a vote for WW3.
Judis at Talking Points Memo does not look to believe in the democratic process if he is asking a candidate to withdraw before the process is over.
This is another example of placing the Party over democracy, where monied interests have dictated and apparently bought their candidate.
Trump is no better than Hillary, with neither deserving the Presidency.
I was a poll worker Tuesday in SO CAL, and witnessed voter suppression first-hand. How was it done? Among other means, voters were id’ed as vote-by-mail without their knowledge or consent. Many such voters never received a mailed ballot, thus were forced to vote provisionally. Young, newly-registered, first-time voters — i.e., obvious Sanders supporters — were disproportionately affected. So what’s significant for Bernie’s campaign is not (or not only) the sheer numbers of provisional ballots that were cast, but WHO was forced to use them. He needs to stay in the race until ALL valid California ballots are counted.
If Clinton is allowed to go from “presumed” to actually being nominated for President, Sanders supporters will NOT be taking “responsibility” should Clinton lose in November.
Things do not happen in a vacuum not even in politics.
Hillary has made her bed and now she will have to lie in it.