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Prisoner's Dilemma for Superdelegates

10:36 AM, Apr 23, 2008 • By JAIME SNEIDER
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John Podhoretz on the chances of wrapping this thing up early:

Yes. Sure. Because politicians with the most valuable votes in America are just going to choose up sides and not spend three months being courted and feted and promised. They are going to forswear having their feet kissed, their backs massaged, their views requested, their wants fulfilled, their needs anticipated. They are going to throw their vote away rather than milk it for all it's worth....

A thousand or so people are going to decide this primary. It behooves those people to have this go on as long as possible, because that is how they are going to get the most goodies. Maybe this is what Hillary truly understands.

Howard Dean has admonished superdelegates for the bazillionth time to declare which candidate they intend to support, but don't hold your breath. The fact is the Democratic superdelegates are in a classic prisoner's dilemma. It is in their collective interest to wrap up the nomination, but each of them gains influence as they hold out their vote. Dean recently set down a June 3rd deadline for the superdelegates. I'm looking forward to that day: the Democratic nomination won't be settled, and Dean will inevitably look like the incompetent, impotent party leader he is.

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