Sharpton came in 6th in Delaware, yet gets 1 delegate

[Ediacara]

While those who came in 2nd-5th get none. At least according to Dave Leip's Election Atlas..... How did that happen? Was he particularly strong in some precincts?

[jmaier]

1. He must have scored above 15% in precints

comprising one congressional district -- the 15% threshhold is actually set at the congressional district level and not the state level.

[Skinner]

3. Delaware only has one congressional district.

Perhaps delegates are handed out at the precinct level rather than the congressional district level.

[mohc]

4. The problem with that..

...is that Deleware only has one CD. To have 15% in the CD would mean you have 15% statewide.

[JI7]

2. i'm guessing it's a superdelegate

they can support anyone they want i think. non superdelegates go to candidates based on the voting. i'm sure someone else will confirm or clear this up.

[Skinner]

6. No, it's not a superdelegate.

I checked the link above. Here are the results:

Candidate   Home State    Popular Vote Delegates 
 John Kerry      Massachusetts 16,729 50.47% 14  
 Joe Lieberman   Connecticut    3,683 11.11%  0  
 John Edwards    North Carolina 3,657 11.03%  0  
 Howard Dean     Vermont        3,439 10.38%  0  
 Wesley Clark    Arkansas       3,145  9.49%  0  
 Al Sharpton     New York       1,885  5.69%  1  
 Dennis Kucinich Ohio             343  1.03%  0  
 Other                            265  0.80%  0 

Then they include these notes

Election Notes:
The Delaware Primary is open to registered Democrats only.
A total of 15 (of 23) delegates are awarded proportionally (15 percent threshold required to receive delegates)

MY COMMENT:

It appears that Delaware has 8 superdelegates and 15 delegates chosen in the primary (14 for Kerry and 1 for Sharpton).

My guess is that the state is split into 15 districts for the sake of the primary election. Maybe Kerry won 14 of those districts and Sharpton won one. :shrug:

Anyone know the real answer?

[Renew Deal]

5. He had over 15% in a CD.

They mentioned it on one of the news networks last night.

[Skinner]

7. Delaware has one CD. (nt)

[Renew Deal]

12. That's what the talking heads said.

[Skinner]

8. This might help

From the Wilimington News Journal:

With the victory, Kerry automatically receives five at-large delegates, said Nicole Majeski, the party's executive director. Ten delegates are awarded through a proportional formula based on the candidate's performance in party-defined districts. Kent and Sussex counties and Wilmington each send two delegates and New Castle County sends four.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/02/04kerrywinsindela.html

My guess is that Sharpton won one of the ten "party-defined districts". Probably one of the districts in the city of Wilmington, which has a large African-American population.

[mohc]

9. The answer

Took some digging but I found the Deleware districts, they are as follows:

Each of the three counties is a district
Kent: 2 delegates
Sussex: 2 delegates
New Castle: 4 delegates

And Wilmington gets 2 delegates for a total of 10 district delegates. Sharpton did not break 15% in the 3 counties. The only possibilty is that Sharpton broke 15% in Wilmington, which makes sense.

[Skinner]

10. You're probably right.

But I would be surprised if none of the other candidates broke 15% in any of these 10 districts. It seems unlikely.

[mohc]

11. Edwards did in Sussex

But Kerry was too far ahead. Kerry had 55% Edwards 15%, with 2 delegates to award. Using the allocation formula, Kerry deserved 1.57 delegates and Edwards deserved .43 delegates. Kerry ends up getting both. This means for Sharpton to have gotten the delegate from Wilmington, he would need at least a third of Kerry's total. Exactly a third would make it 1.5 to .5 deserved, in which case Kerry get's both (round to the nearest even in event of a tie). So Sharpton had to get just more than a third.