REDBLUE – Mississippi’s Democratic Primary

Mississippi’s Democratic Primary

The 33 pledged delegate votes Mississippi will cast at the national convention now mean something to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The primary set for this Tuesday will allocate those 33 votes — 22 by congressional district and 11 at-large. The first, third and fourth congressional districts each have 5 delegates, while the second district has seven. The district delegates will be apportioned by the primary vote in the district, while the at-large delegates will be apportioned by the statewide primary vote.

As for the vote, we had a primary in 2004 and in 2000, but the election was held after John Kerry and Al Gore had effectively secured the nominations. In 2004, only 74,928 Democrats voted while in 2000, we had 88,593 people vote. About 20 percent of that vote came from Hinds, Madison, Rankin and Warren Counties, while ten percent came from the three Gulf Coast counties. The rest was scattered throughout the state. I expect the turnout to be more than that, but in the same proportion as in earlier years.

RedBlue
Clarion Ledger
3/6/8