Democratic Primary Open Thread. Update!

So today there are two primaries for Democrats to use to pretend that the nomination is still in contention.

One is in Kentucky and their polls close in about an hour and half from when this gets posted.

The second is in Oregon and that sucker is still five hours and a half away.

There is by the way every possibility that Sanders will win both of these tonight, but of course it is unlikely that it will be a large enough win to gain him more than about half the delegates. And that is simply not going to help.

By the way there is the letter that Bernie Sanders wrote in response to what happened in Nevada this weekend.

Here it is in its entirety:

“It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, both nationally and in the states, understand that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are outraged at establishment politics and establishment economics. The people of this country want a government which represents all of us, not just the 1 percent, super PACs and wealthy campaign contributors. 

“The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy. 

“Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization. Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence. Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals. But, when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked. 

“If the Democratic Party is to be successful in November, it is imperative that all state parties treat our campaign supporters with fairness and the respect that they have earned. I am happy to say that has been the case at state conventions in Maine, Alaska, Colorado and Hawaii where good discussions were held and democratic decisions were reached. Unfortunately, that was not the case at the Nevada convention. At that convention the Democratic leadership used its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place. Among other things: 

The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount. 

The chair allowed its Credentials Committee to en mass rule that 64 delegates were ineligible without offering an opportunity for 58 of them to be heard. That decision enabled the Clinton campaign to end up with a 30-vote majority. 

The chair refused to acknowledge any motions made from the floor or allow votes on them. The chair refused to accept any petitions for amendments to the rules that were properly submitted. 

“These are on top of failures at the precinct and county conventions including trying to depose and then threaten with arrest the Clark County convention credentials chair because she was operating too fairly.”

So as you can see there was not an explicit call for non-violence though there was plenty of blame for any aggression aimed at the Democrats.

Actually it kind of reads like a list of demands by a hostage taker.

Update: Here are some of the threats sent to Nevada Democratic party chair Roberta Lange after the convention.

Nothing that was done, or could have been done, at the convention excuses this.

Update: Hillary Clinton wins!

Holy crap that took forever. Let's hope that Oregon is not quite such a nail biter.

Update 2: And now Sanders wins Oregon. 

It looks like in this case the delegates are pretty evenly split as well.