The Common Law

Confusion surrounds this year's Texas Democratic primary process as both the Clinton and Obama camps debate who won Texas. Leading into the State Democratic Convention in Austin this week, I've asked Andy Brown, new chair of Travis County Democratic Party, to weigh in on these issues. – Luke Ellis

Common Law: How is the Texas Democratic primary supposed to work?

Andy Brown: Texas has 228 delegates at the national convention. Texas Democrats chose 126 of those delegates by voting in the March primary, 67 by participating at the county conventions, and 35 are determined by the superdelegates. Superdelegates are mostly Texas Democratic members of the U.S. Congress and Texas Democratic National Committee members.

CL: What is the Obama camp's argument for why he may have won Texas – or at least done better than reported?

AB: Obama's camp argues that Obama won Texas because he won more delegates at the end of the night. Clinton won the popular vote that day. She received 65 delegates while Obama received 61 from the popular vote. At the caucuses that night, Obama received 38 delegates and Clinton 29. If you add this all up, Obama tentatively won by five delegates. This is tentative because the delegates based on the caucus votes can change at the state convention. Obama's campaign might argue that caucus-goers are the activist core of the party and arguably a better representation of the activist base – and thus more likely to get out and volunteer for their candidate in the fall. In response, Clinton might say that she won the popular vote in the primary election and that speaks for itself. Both candidates knew the rules of the Texas Democratic Party going into the process and, under those somewhat complex rules, Obama appears to have a tentative win.

CL: How are these issues resolved at the state convention?

AB: The Texas Democratic Party takes a presidential preference poll at the state convention. When each delegate picks up their credentials, they vote in this preference poll. Based on the results of that poll, the 38 votes that Obama tentatively won and the 29 votes that Clinton tentatively won at the primary night caucus can be redistributed. Chances are that, if all delegates show up, the results will mirror those of the caucus – because most delegates signed in as either an Obama or Clinton delegate and will probably vote for the candidate for whom they signed in the night of the caucus. However, there is no law preventing them from changing their "preference" at the state convention on June 5, 6, and 7 at the Austin Convention Center.