Democratic Nomination = Law School Tier Orthodoxy

[NeverTrustKlingons]

As historic and surprising as nominating an African-American in 2008 is, it (perhaps merely by coincidence) is also totally in line with law school rank-orthodoxy of the top Democratic candidates.  A law school rank-snob, looking at credentials without names attached, would've chosen Obama from the start.  From bottom to top:

Mike Gravel - BS Economics
Dennis Kucinich - MA from Case Western
Chris Dodd - Louisville Law Grad
Joe Biden - Very smart Syracuse Law Grad.
Bill Richardson - Very smart with no law school credential (MALD from Tufts).
John Edwards - UNC Law, respectable showing.
Hillary Clinton - Yale Law, almost got all the way.
Barack Obama - Editor of Harvard Law Review, clinches the nomination.

I'm not suggesting it's anything more than coincidence, but I do think the Democratic nomination was a little more academic credential-focused than its Republican counterpart.

N.B. Richardson is the only one who manages to outperform law-snob expectations (beating some non-top law graduates with the Tufts MALD).

Just interesting to see how 'rankism' and credentials play out at the highest level, even if anecdotally.

[typycal]

isn't yale ranked #1?

[NeverTrustKlingons]

Depending on who you ask, but I am going on the assumption that most rank-orthodoxy people would say the Editor of the Harvard Law Review is better-positioned than a non-Law Review Yale graduate.

[TimMitchell]

Mitt Romney: JD/MBA Harvard
Ron Paul: MD Duke
Rudy Guiliani: JD NYU
Fred Thomson: JD Vanderbilt
Duncan Hunter: JD Western State

Just because the Democratic candidate happened to graduate from the best law school is, just as you said, coincidence. If Barack graduated from any other school do you think it would make any difference? The only time education background really comes up in politics is notable accomplishments (like Barack being the first black law review president) or trying to prove a candidate is a blue blooded elitist because they went to a top school considered to be WASP havens. I really doubt anyone would have voted any differently if Barack went to a "TTT"

[dsetterl]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

[TimMitchell]

Also, heres some cases where it didn't pan out

2004 John Kerry (Boston College #28) wins against Bob Graham (LLB Harvard) Carol Braun (JD Chicago) and male private part Gephardt (JD Michigan) among many others. John Edwards also beat all these people with a JD from UNC (32)

2000 Al Gore's only opponent was really Bill Bradley who never even attended law school, although Gore only with to Vanderbilt...

1992 Clinton went to Yale, but so did his main opponent Paul Tsongas

1988 Dukakis (Harvard JD) beat Gary Hart (Yale JD)

1984 Walter Mondale (Minnisoda JD #20) beat out plenty of T14 candidates

So once it the past 2 decades? And I agree that Yale (Clinton) has always been higher ranked than than Harvard (Obama), your premise is based on rankings mattering not their performance in school

[Lampshade Punk]

I think some people took this thread to seriously.  I guess that was predictable though.  Leave it to a law student.

[florida357]

I would say it is very unsuprising that an "African American" got the nomination.

Curiously, this conversation is devoid of grades.  It might be a safe assumption that a person at the top of there class at Yale would be selected over a person in the bottom of there class at Harvard.  Also curious, Obama won't release his grades.  Remember, he was elected to the Editor of Law Review.

[dekocards]

Harvard wins in terms of lay prestige, which is probably more important in a presidential election.  So the Y - H debate is moot.

The term "Harvard-trained lawyer" wins elections all over the world.

[TimMitchell]

Harvard wins in terms of lay prestige, which is probably more important in a presidential election.  So the Y - H debate is moot.

The term "Harvard-trained lawyer" wins elections all over the world.

I think your right, most people associate Harvard with the best and don't know much about Yale law. However, the OPs arguement was that law rankings are playing out this primary. Yale has always been offically ranked over Harvard is U.S. news.