The Page

Politics up to the Minute

What About Candidates Who Decide to Leave the Race?

What about candidates who decide to leave the race? What happens to their delegates?

When a candidate decides to leave the presidential race, they are entitled to keep any district-level delegates that were awarded to them and any district-level delegates that might be awarded to them in future contests. If pledged PLEO delegates and at-large delegates have been selected prior to the candidate withdrawing from the race, they are also allowed to keep those delegates. However, if a candidate leaves the race prior to the selection of pledged PLEO and at-large delegates, those delegate positions are reallocated to the candidates still in the race.

Delegates are not “bound” to vote for the candidate they were elected to represent. They can, and have in the past, cast a vote for another presidential candidate at the Convention. As a sign of good faith, most former candidates will “release” their delegates from voting for them; however, this is not required, and only has a symbolic meaning to it. Delegates can vote for another presidential candidate without being “released.”

Sign up for the daily email from The Page and get the very latest political news delivered directly to your inbox.

  • Email Format:

The Political Schedule

*all times Eastern

Wednesday, December 2

    • 10:40 am
    • President Obama and Vice President Biden receive the presidential daily briefing in the Oval Office
    • 12:00 pm
    • Michelle Obama holds event to thank volunteers who helped ready the White House for Christmas
    • 12:35 pm
    • President Obama and Vice President Biden have lunch in the Private Dining Room
    • 1:00 pm
    • Robert Gibbs delivers the daily press briefing from the White House
    • 1:45 pm
    • President Obama receives the economic daily briefing in the Oval Office
    • 2:45 pm
    • President Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office
    • 3:25 pm
    • President Obama meets with Senator Bayh in the Oval Office
    • 4:10 pm
    • President Obama meets with Senator Graham in the Oval Office
    • 7:30 pm
    • Ed Gillespie gives speech on "Rebuilding the Republican Party" at the University of Delaware

The Page on the Go

Read THE PAGE on your Mobile Device

Bookmark thepage.time.com on your mobile device for an easy to read version of Mark Halperin's The Page.

The Page Archive

December 2009
Choose a day to view headlines.

< Previous Month

S M T W T F S
    1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31    
Watch videos at Vodpod and other videos from this collection.