We talked earlier today about a movement from some to try and recruit Fred Thompson back into the race by giving him a good showing in one or more Super Tuesday contests. The Politico reported on a similar effort among some Edwards supporters who hold out hope that John Edwards could re-enter the Democratic contest.
These sort of “zombie campaigns” are nothing new, though. In 2004, Howard Dean suspended his campaign and continued to pick up delegates for several months. He even won his homestate of Vermont, the only state he won, after he’d dropped out of the race. Similarly, a 2004 John Edwards won delegates and his home state of North Carolina after ending his own bid. Most of those votes were really protest votes cast against John Kerry.
When a candidate drops out in a Presidential primary race, usually their name remains on the ballot. Dedicated supporters sometimes continue the campaign without the candidate’s active participation.
Tonight we might see a lot of votes for candidates who are no longer actively running. Rudy Giuliani could register a few points in New York and New Jersey. Thompson’s supporters could give him a decent showing in Tennessee, maybe even winning a delegate or two.
On the Democratic side, Biden and Dodd supporters might make themselves known in Delaware and Connecticut. Dennis Kucinich voters will probably keep giving him 2-3% of the vote, although some of that might shift to Mike Gravel. Funny as it is, but Mike Gravel is likely to finish behind some of these zombies tonight in many states. Gravel is, of course, the only other Democrat still in this race besides Clinton and Obama.
Odds are that none of these other candidates will win too signficiant of a share of the votes, but you never know what will happen. Particularly with the Democrats, if Edwards can somehow pick up another dozen delegates and add them to his current total of 26… he might just control the margin of victory as of tomorrow morning.
This is one interesting election! Stay tuned!
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