Karl Rove says it will be 'awfully hard' for Dems to avoid a chaotic brokered convention

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Karl Rove on possible brokered Democratic convention

Fox News contributor Karl Rove breaks down how the rest of the 2020 Democratic presidential race could play out.

Karl Rove, the former White House senior adviser to President George W. Bush, said Thursday that it is possible that Democrats are inching toward a brokered convention.

Eight candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination remain, but unless a clear candidate emerges things could become chaotic in regards to delegates and the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

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"Delegates chosen... through March 3rd are going to represent 40 percent of the total at the Democratic convention. And after March 3, we're gonna be 60 percent. Right now, we got everybody sort of tight," Rove said on "Hannity."  "Nobody's breaking it... Buttigieg and Bernie are about 32 percent of the delegates selected so far."

"They need to win 60 percent of those to get 36 percent of the total delegates and get themselves to 50... as of the opening day in Milwaukee," Rove said. "That looks like it's going to be awfully hard to do given how scrambled this field is."

The last time either of the major party nominating conventions went past a first-ballot was 1952, when Adlai Stevenson won the Democratic nomination on the third ballot.

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But this time around, a number of conditions could lead to no candidate holding a clear majority of delegates heading into the July Democratic convention in Milwaukee. This could trigger a scenario where so-called "superdelegates" -- party elders and insiders who recently were stripped of their power in the wake of the 2016 primary battle -- would be activated, and free to boost the candidates of their choice toward the nomination.

Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.