Nation: The Rule That Binds

At the center of the furor expected at next week's Democratic Convention is Rule F3-c, which is designed to weed out defectors among the delegates. If adopted by the convention, the rule would bind all delegates to vote on the first ballot for the presidential candidate whom they were elected to support by state caucuses and primaries. According to the proposed rule, a rebellious delegate—for instance, a Carter delegate who wants to vote for Kennedy—could be replaced "at any time up to and including the presidential balloting." In practice, this would mean that the state delegation's chairman, or an emissary for...