California’s an unpredictable (yet true blue) state, and after the Trump election, I will never trust polls again. Plus the polls have been all over the place, And I’m involved with a local group (in Hollywood, so I’m in a liberal cocoon) that was split between the Mayor, Klob, and Biden. There was a lot of discussion about everyone supporting one or the other in order to get combined votes that exceed Sanders. When Mayor Pete dropped out, I switched to Klobuchar because there seemed to be a majority (at least in my bubble) who support her. So voting for her obviously turned out to be throwing my vote away, but I wasn’t casting a symbolic vote-I genuinely thought she could be the one to beat Bernie in CA if everyone rallied. Which is why, as I stated upthread, that early voting is a strategically bad idea, and should be avoided at all costs.
He’s not actually on both ballots–his son, who also happens to be named Roque “Rocky” de la Fuente, is running on the Republican side. That’s the part I found amusing.
Doesn’t a candidate have to meet some minimum qualification to be placed on the ballot, like getting a certain number of signatures on a petition supporting his candidacy?
I’ll support anyone being on the ballot so I sign those petitions frequently. It doesn’t obligate me to vote for them.
It depends on the locality, but a lot of places it’s pretty easy. For the NH primary, the only requirement is some paperwork and $1000
Another article discussing, in some detail, what happens to delegates when their candidate drops out.
What happens to candidates’ delegates when they drop out? by Philip Bump, Washington Post, March 3, 2020.
He breaks it down into two cases: What happens before the convention, and what happens during the convention.
He also addresses a point that Chronos mentions, above:
No, not quite. If they drop out, their delegates get re-allocated to other candidates. By suspending, they technically stay in the race and keep their delegates. Then, the delegates get assigned at the convention, where the rules are different.
The rule is a bit more complex than that, and I might have gotten some details wrong, wherein devils reside. You gotta read the article.
There are also Campaign Finance rules that make it advantageous to ‘suspend’ rather than ‘drop’ your campaign.
Yet Another article in WaPo discussing, in somewhat general terms, how delegates are awarded, including a brief mention of what happens to delegates of candidates who suspend or drop out. That brief mention appears to be a summary of the story I linked yesterday, a few posts above.
The Democratic Party’s presidential delegate process, Terri Rupar et al, Washington Post, March 4, 2020.
ETA: So, if the candidate merely suspends rather than dropping out, their delegates will go to the convention a free agents, but presumably they will most likely vote for whoever their (now-suspended) candidate asks them to.