Gaming the caucus

We see more evidence that Obama built up his delegate lead by gaming the caucuses. We've already discussed, and will discuss again, the allegations of intimidation and fraud in Texas. But the pattern occurs elsewhere. From the Left Coaster:

Let's close with some observations on Nebraska. Nebraska held a primary yesterday not just for the Republican party but also for the Democratic party - the latter being irrelevant when it comes to delegates but important to assess the impact of caucuses v. primaries. When Nebraska held its Democratic caucus on Super Tuesday (Feb), the turnout was around 38760 and Sen. Obama won the caucus 68%-32%, giving him a popular vote margin of almost 14000 votes. Yesterday, the primary attracted 93161 voters and the result was 49-47% in favor of Sen. Obama, with Mike Gravel taking up the remaining 4%. In other words, a 36-point caucus victory was reduced to a 2-point primary victory for Sen. Obama along with a much lower popular vote margin of just ~2600 votes.

Can Obama win in the general? There are no caucuses in November. Here's Anglachel:

In contest after contest, we see him failing to turn out the massive numbers that his allegedly unstoppable movement says they command. We see dominance in highly restrictive caucuses. We see him turning out super-majorities of AA voters. We see him dominating urban areas where you have upper income liberals. We see the college aged children of those liberal families voting in university areas.

It is beginning to look like the main reason for Obama's red state caucus successes is the absence of voters, not the presence of new ones.

We must get rid of the caucus system -- in all states. It allows a band of zealots to overpower the will of the majority.