Last month, the Democratic Party of Charlottesville held a "firehouse primary," an open caucus to nominate its candidates for various local offices, and for the first time they used IRV to reach consensus choices, in an election with turnout almost quadrupled from previous primaries.
By elevating Ms. Walter, Mr. Obama ensures that she has the full power of the position, while leaving open the door to nominate someone else later, as he is expected to do.
"When the door for presidential nominations opens, I intend to nominate myself," Mr. ElBaradei said on a talk show broadcast live by the Egyptian satellite channel ON TV.
Nonetheless, there are still some Democrats who privately wonder why Mr. McGreevey left himself open to criticism by nominating someone with Mr. Santiago's political baggage or with the limitations of Mr. Cipel's status as a foreign national.
"If an opportunity provides itself at an open convention, they are not going to nominate a moderate Massachusetts governor".
One is holding open primaries so that people outside each party's base can vote to nominate moderate candidates.
Four years later, when Stevenson was nominated again, he threw the choice for vice president open to the convention, which eventually nominated Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.
To nominate requires 540 delegates.
But she said it was possible that it would take long enough for the case to reach the justices that a vacancy could occur on the court, giving Mr. Bush, especially if re-elected, an opportunity to tilt the balance against abortion rights by nominating a successor open to revisiting Roe v. Wade.
The speakers chosen by Mr. Kerry's campaign to open his nominating convention were, in part, the obligatory tribute of a party to its history and leaders.
