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The 2008 presidential election should be a slam-dunk for the Democrats. The approval ratings for the incumbent president are dismal and enthusiasm among Republicans for their primary candidates was lukewarm at best. John McCain, now the presumptive nominee, is opposed by a significant portion of party members and right-wing talk radio hosts don’t hesitate to express their disgust at the Arizona senator.

On other hands, the two remaining Democratic candidates have both electrified followers, resulting in record turnout numbers for the primaries and caucuses – 14 million Democrats voted in the primaries thus far, compared to 10 million Republicans.

And while Mitt Romney and McCain have thrown dirt at each other, worth millions of advertising dollars, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have maintained a relatively civil atmosphere. But that is likely to change now. While McCain has almost nine months to make amends with his conservative critics and rally the party behind him, it is entirely possible that Obama and Clinton will battle for the nomination for months to come, with increasing harshness. Since Democrats allocate most of their delegates proportional rather than in a winner-takes-all system, the two contenders now have an almost equal number of pledged delegates (840 for Clinton, 831 for Obama).

If neither reaches the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination when the primaries are over (a real possibility), the decision will come down to the superdelegates, who make up around 20 percent of the convention. They are free to support whoever they like and include all Democratic Governors and members of Congress but also former party leaders and officials, some of whom have never held public office.

Getting their support would inevitably involve negotiations in those ominous smoke-filled backrooms of old-style politics. Add to that the discussion about whether to seat the delegates of Florida and Michigan (both won by Clinton), who were stripped of their voting status because the states violated party rules by scheduling their primaries too early, and you have the potential for a really messy coronation. The losing side could, with some merit, claim to be cheated out of victory and would leave behind disenchanted supporters.

Given the Democrats’ track record (after all, they couldn’t even win against George W. Bush), it is entirely possible that they will screw this up again and manage to turn a united party into an infighting tangle, handing the Republicans the election on a silver plate.

By Dirk Jacquemien