Earlier this week, Breitbart News reported that Arkansas state Democrats might attempt to disenfranchise the state’s voters by refusing to award delegates to John Wolfe, a Tennessee attorney who was on the ballot challenging President Obama (Wolfe is also on the May 29 ballot in the upcoming Texas primary). Yesterday, Wolfe filed suit against the Arkansas Democrat Party in the Federal District Court in Little Rock:
Arkansas Democratic Party spokesman Candace Martin had originally indicated that, while Wolfe had neglected to file the same documents in Arkansas, the party would wait until after the primary to consult with counsel and the National Democratic Party about whether he was nonetheless eligible for any delegates won in the primary. However, Martin subsequently announced, before the primary, that Wolfe would not be awarded any delegates regardless of the outcome of the vote.
In her May 17 statement, Martin explained that, “Mr. Wolfe has been completely non-compliant with Arkansas’s Delegate Selection Plan therefore, the National Democratic Party has informed us that Mr. Wolfe is not a candidate participating in good faith and any delegates for Mr. Wolfe would not be recognized at the National Convention. We want to ensure that delegates elected to represent Arkansas have the opportunity to fully participate in the national convention.”
What Wolfe failed to file was a document indicating “steps the candidate will take to encourage full participation in the delegate selection process.”
In his [suit], Wolfe said that would include efforts, under party rules, “to aid the inclusion of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons; the handicapped; women; veterans; and various racial minorities, into the political process,” but that there is no evidence that either he or the Arkansas Democratic Party has a record of discriminating against those groups.”
“In truth,” he writes in the suit, “Wolfe has been, in demonstrable ways, solicitous of the concerns of these groups throughout his personal and professional life.”
And, he said in the lawsuit, there is no provision in the rules that would require him to forfeit his delegates for failure to file a delegate selection plan or name a representative.
Tuesday night Wolfe embarrassed Obama by winning 42% of the Arkansas vote, and the rumors that he would not be awarded delegates prior to election night were obviously designed to suppress any turnout in his favor. Democrats know they can count on their media allies to pretty much dismiss a 42% showing, but had Wolfe come within a few points or actually won the state, even Obama’s Media Palace Guards would not have been able to avoid the kind of “loser” narrative that would only pile on the President’s already very bad no good week.
This, however, is what Democrats do. Whether it’s disenfranchising 68,108 of their own voters and declaring them all racist, the ends always justify the means — which is only made possible when you can count on the sycophant media to cover up or downplay your misdeeds.
Moreover, Democrats do not want Wolfe coming out of Arkansas and heading into Texas with a head of steam. The last thing Obama needs now is a bunch of stories written about how a relatively unknown attorney who doesn’t even live in these states is giving him a run for his money. If the media is ever forced to report the truth — and that’s that the President is suffering an enthusiasm problem — those narratives have a way of sticking. In an election likely to turn on turnout, this can’t be allowed to happen.
The media remembers 1992 and how effectively they turned Pat Buchanan’s 37% showing against George H. W. Bush into a “loser” narrative, so that’s something they are loath to repeat with Their Precious One. Can you imagine the media uproar had state Republicans even hinted at not awarding Buchanan his delegates?
Wolfe also suspects, and not without cause, that these efforts to disenfranchise his supporters are coming directly from the national party (he’s also been robbed of delegates in Louisiana and might file suit there, as well), something a media worth its salt would at least question. But we have to remember that the only time “every vote counts” is when that policy is the last hope Al Gore has of winning the presidency.
I interviewed Wolfe last week. He’s a serious and thoughtful candidate, not a quack. He deserves respect from his fellow Democrats, some attention from the national media, and every single one of his delegates.
Most importantly, though, the 68,108 people who voted for Wolfe deserve to have their votes count and their voices represented at the Democrat National Convention.
This is America not Venezuela. Obama is a man, not a god.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC