How incompetent does the leadership of a national political party have to be to schedule its nominating committee after the deadlines of two states to confirm the party’s nominee to be included on the ballot?
That’s a good question — and one the Democratic National Committee is apparently well-placed to answer.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen sent a letter Tuesday to the Alabama Democratic Party and the DNC to inform both groups that the party must, under state law, confirm its presidential and vice presidential candidates by Aug. 15 to be eligible to appear on the state’s ballots in November.
The only problem with that is that Democratic National Convention isn’t scheduled to begin until Aug. 19. Whoops.
Of course, everyone knows that the incumbent, President Joe Biden, will be the Democrats’ nominee again this year, despite some conspiracy theories to the contrary. But that’s not the same as the DNC confirming those nominees to the state.
Biden faces a similar problem in Ohio, as The Western Journal reported Monday.
In case you were wondering, the Republican National Convention is scheduled for July 15-18 in Milwaukee, well before the deadlines in both Alabama and Ohio.
Neither state is likely to be competitive, it should be noted. Combined, the two states represent 26 electoral votes that Biden may not even have a shot at, but he probably didn’t have much of a shot at them anyway.
Former President Donald Trump won Ohio by better than 8 points in each of the last two presidential elections, and he demolished his Democratic opponents in Alabama by more than 25 points in both 2016 and 2020.
Still, this isn’t a good look for Team Biden.
So far, the Democrats’ response to the issue has been simple: Rather than replace the people responsible for their terrible planning, they’re simply denying that there’s a problem.
“We’re monitoring the situation in Ohio and we’re confident that Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” a Biden campaign spokesperson told ABC News last week.
After the news about Alabama broke, a Biden campaign spokesperson — perhaps the same one — made a similar statement to Fox News, but actually amped up the denial.
“Joe Biden will be on the ballot in all 50 states,” the unnamed spokesperson said. “State officials have the ability to grant provisional ballot access certification prior to the conclusion of presidential nominating conventions.”
Some state officials may have that ability, but not those in Alabama.
“Under Alabama law, there are no ‘provisional certifications’ for candidates,” the Alabama secretary of state’s office told CNN. “All candidates must comply with current Alabama law to gain ballot access.”
So, back to my original question: How incompetent does the leadership of a national political party have to be to schedule its nominating committee after the deadlines of two states to confirm the party’s nominee to be included on the ballot?
Sit back and grab the popcorn. It looks like we’re about to find out.