Goddamn Michigan and Florida!
By Pamela Hamilton • Mar 29th, 2008 • Category: Politwix BlogsThe Democratic Party is sinking in quicksand. The more time that goes by without consensus on the allocation of Florida’s primary votes, the more ridiculous the party looks. There is no justification for not allocating votes the way they would have been had the primary not been moved up by the Florida’s Republican Legislature. Both candidate’s names were on the ballot, neither candidate campaigned there (although Obama did have an “accidental” media buy that ran some commercials there), and there was a record turnout. Any opposition to that prospect is a thinly veiled attempted to thwart the will of the people.
With 230 delegates at stake, any attempt to disenfranchise voters in Florida will have profound consequences, especially for Clinton. The will of the majority of Florida’s democrats is that Hillary Rodham Clinton should become the party nominee for the presidency. Clinton garnered nearly 50% of the total vote with Barack Obama gaining 33% and John Edwards 14.4%. The Obama camp is pushing hard to split the vote 50-50 between the two candidates, arguing that the John Edwards supporters would have voted for him; a line of thought that not only comes off as arrogant, but in the eyes of many looks like an attempt to steal the election.
Michigan is slightly more complicated. When Michigan democrats insisted on moving up their primary, the DNC informed them that their votes would not count. John Edwards and Barack Obama voluntarily removed their names from the ballot, a move some have questioned as a possible attempt to invalidate any later attempt to seat Michigan’s delegates at the convention. Again, Michigan is a state that would apparently have been a Clinton stronghold. In the primary that was held, Clinton, whose name was on the ballot, received 55.3% of the vote with 40% going to ”Uncommitted”. Obama and Edwards’s supporters were told to vote “Uncommitted”. The total number of delegates available for the state of Michigan would have been 156.
There is a DNC approved proposal being presented to the Michigan legislators that would allow for a revote, but it is being held up by Obama’s lawyers, their main concern being that independents and republicans would not be able to vote and would be disenfranchised. So, let me get this straight…Obama is willing to disenfranchise every democrat in Michigan because Independents and Republicans can’t vote in a Michigan redo? That is non-sensical. The clock is ticking, and today will likely be the last opportunity for Obama to sign on to a re-vote in Michigan. Should the Michigan legislature break today for recess, all hope for a fair solution to seating Michigan delegates will be lost.
The only way a win by either candidate can appear legitimate now is by seating all delegates in Florida and a revote in Michigan.
Howard Dean has at best shown zero leadership in allowing this situation to fester for so long without resolution. At worst, the DNC is subversively trying to throw this election to Obama. As a lifetime Democrat, I am embarrassed to admit that I think it might be the latter.
Pamela Hamilton is a freelance writer, corporate culture evacuee and vocational gypsy. She attended the school of hard knocks and graduated with a degree in satire.
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I smell a rat, too. I am of course convinced the Repubs are knee deep in this quagmire, but it seems to me that Howard Dean’s “Rules are Rules” is pretty lame.
What’s the history of his association with Obama or Clinton? Do he and Pelosi have a big reason to keep Hillary out of office?
I can’t believe the day went by without Obama giving the go-ahead for a revote. On Larry King tonight it became clear that Obama is going to try to force delegates to be allocated at the convention. What a freakin’ food fight that is going to be! This idiot will never win by disinfranchising two of the most populus states. Idjit!
Um arrogant? Isn’t Hillary arrogant for being afraid of a revote which would obviously, now that the voters who stayed home instead of casting a meaningless ballot would have a say, not turn out in her favor? She knew ahead of time Florida and Michigan violated scheduling rules and that they would not count. She even said so herself! Only when she was losing did she care about FL and MI. Look at California, her support is down to 38%, Obama’s is up to 51%. There is no way she will win the GE, she lost herself with her hypocrisy, racism, sexism and subliminal assassination seed plantings…