First John Edwards announced he was suspending his campaign and then yesterday Mitt Romney did the same. But how is ending a campaign different from simply suspending it? As you might imagine, the answer depends on the party.
For a Democrat, suspending a campaign gives you three benefits:
I searched and searched and searched for a clear explanation of what a suspended campaign means for a Republican but found almost nothing on the subject. The best I came up with is this quote from an article on Politico.com:
If anyone finds a more in-depth explanation, I'd love for you to forward the link to me.
For a Democrat, suspending a campaign gives you three benefits:
- He can continue to receive federal matching funds for his campaign donations.
- He will remain on the ballot of the remaining primary states, and retain the delegates he has amassed so far.
- If he gets over 15% in a congressional district, then he still gets delegates.
I searched and searched and searched for a clear explanation of what a suspended campaign means for a Republican but found almost nothing on the subject. The best I came up with is this quote from an article on Politico.com:
Romney suspended his campaign rather than officially end it in order to continue to represent the interests of his delegates, said spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. "We want to make sure that the governor's principles are reflected in the platform and at the convention. We have a number of pledged delegates and we don't want to completely abandon them. But we're not laboring under unrealistic expectations that Governor Romney might magically become the Republican nominee."
If anyone finds a more in-depth explanation, I'd love for you to forward the link to me.
2 comments:
Thanks for the explanation. I'm still trying to figure out what those delegates can/will do once they reach the convention, in both parties. I guess they vote on policy as well as presidents?
Renee,
The way I read it is they will still vote for their candidate unless, in this case, Edwards or Romney, would release them.
Both of them are holding out a very, small shard of hope that their supporters could mount a grass-roots campaign in the remaining primary states and still win them delegates.
Natalie
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