I’m jumping my return to the national scene somewhat, but Wisconsin is going to matter to at least one party this time around. Since it is the first time it will matter in my political life, and I’m sure, most of you, a refresher course in how delegates to the conventions are awarded in Wisconsin is in order. For that, I’ll turn to The Green Papers.
Both the Republicans and Democrats use a combination of vote totals in each Congressional district and statewide to allocate delegates. On the Republican side, it is a winner-take-all scenario, with each of the 8 districts awarding all 3 delegates to the winner of that particular district (24 total), and the remaining 16 delegates (the 10 base at-large, the 3 bonus, and the 3 party leaders) going to the statewide winner. More-importantly for a brokered convention, those 40 are bound to that particular candidate until either released or that candidate fails to get 1/3rd of the vote at the convention. Yes, there is a 1/3rd threshhold, but given this race is down to two active candidates, that is not going to deny either John McCain or Mike Huckabee any delegate.
The Democrat side is a bit more complex. Both the district-level (48 total) and pledged statewide (26 total) delegates are allocated on a proportional basis, with a 15% minimum to get any delegates. However, not all districts are created equal. The 5th and 6th Congressional districts each have 5 delegates, the 2nd has 8, and the remainder each have 6. Morever, there are the 18 “superdelegates” to eventually take into account; they are free to make up their minds regardless of who wins. Barack Obama currently leads Hillary Clinton in that count 4-2; 2008 Democratic Convention Watch has Gov. Jim Doyle, 4th District Rep. Gwen Moore, 7th District Rep. David Obey and DNC bigwig Stan Gruszynski endorsing Obama and 2nd District Rep. Tammy Baldwin and DNC bigwig Tim Sullivan endirsing Clinton.
Tracking the results by district is going to be a bit problematic. The Government Accountability Board – Elections Division does not maintain an election-night count (or at least its predecessor, the State Elections Board did not), and neither do all of the 72 counties (some do). Morever, the Congressional districts do not necessarily follow either county or municipal boundaries. I will try to come up with a workaround before next Tuesday.
