Do-Over in Michigan and Florida?

[Richard Tafoya]

AP:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5igrYLRrHG3P6lIbs2E7pSH0bxhvgD8V7K8OO0

Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count in the epic Democratic campaign.

The Michigan governor, along with top officials in Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign and Florida's state party chair, are now saying they would consider holding a sort of do-over contest by June. That's a change from their previous insistence that the primaries their states held in January should determine how the their delegates are allocated.

Clinton won both contests, but the results were meaningless because the elections violated national party rules.

The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of all their delegates for holding the primaries too early, and all Democratic candidates — including Clinton and rival Barack Obama — agreed not to campaign in either state. Obama's name wasn't even on the Michigan ballot.

Florida and Michigan moved up their dates to protest the party's decision to allow Iowa and New Hampshire to go first, followed by South Carolina and Nevada, giving them a disproportionate influence on the presidential selection process.

But no one predicted the race would still be very close this late in the year.

Ironically, Michigan and Florida could have held crucial primaries if they had stayed with their traditional later dates. They may yet do so if they decide to hold new contests as Clinton and Obama compete to the wire.

[db44]

Pardon my French but screw them. They made a decision, they have to live by it.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

I heard Charlie Crist on the news this evening. Basically, the DNC said sure, Florida can hold another election, but we have to pay for it. Charlie said who are these guys to decide our votes don't count, "Are they kidding?" He said they can pay for another election or just count the election as it stands.

I have a feeling this may end up in a court somewhere.

[Richard Tafoya]

Statement from DNC Chair Howard Dean:


"We're glad to hear that the Governors of Michigan and Florida are willing to lend their weight to help resolve this issue. As we've said all along, we strongly encourage the Michigan and Florida state parties to follow the rules, so today's public overtures are good news. The rules, which were agreed to by the full DNC including representatives from Florida and Michigan over 18 months ago, allow for two options. First, either state can choose to resubmit a plan and run a party process to select delegates to the convention; second, they can wait until this summer and appeal to the Convention Credentials Committee, which determines and resolves any outstanding questions about the seating of delegates. We look forward to receiving their proposals should they decide to submit new delegate selection plans and will review those plans at that time. The Democratic Nominee will be determined in accordance with party rules, and out of respect for the presidential campaigns and the states that did not violate party rules, we are not going to change the rules in the middle of the game.

"Through all the speculation, we should also remember the overwhelming enthusiasm and turnout that we have already seen, and respect the voters of the ten states who have yet to have their say.

"As we head towards November, our nominee must have the united support of a strong Democratic Party that's ready to fight and ready to beat John McCain. After seven years of Republican rule, I am confident that we will elect a Democratic president who will fight for America's families in the White House. Now we must hear from the voters in twelve states and territories who have yet to make their voices heard."

[ConnieB]

Pardon my French but screw them. They made a decision, they have to live by it.I agree. I live in MI and voted on our primary day. I could not pick Obama on our ballot as he was not included, but Clinton was...and we were not informed about choosing uncommited in the place of Obama until the night before the primary, so those who don't watch the news never knew this. I know many people didn't vote because of Obama missing from our ballot, so it was unfair here in MI. This is also why Clinton won our primary....She had NO competition.

Also, it was the democrats in MI who supported and pushed for the date change...and our Governor pushed for it knowing that our delegates were at risk as she went against the DNC rules when she signed the bill. Now she wants a redo...or the delegates to be counted. By the way, Granholm endorsed Clinton back in October.

According to the Washington Post on Sept 4th 2007 "The leading Democratic candidates have all pledged to ignore Michigan, Florida and the other states who have scheduled votes before Feb. 5, in violation of the party's rules. They did so under threat from the party of losing any delegates they would win in a violating state." The rules for our primary were agreed to months as they knew the delegates would not count.

As Clinton was in the lead, there was no problem with the delegates not being counted here in MI; however, now that Clinton is behind, she is fighting to get the delegates to count because she needs them to win. SORRY!!!!! You can't change the rules just because things are not going your way.... Clinton and our governor agreed to these rules before our primary, now they have to live with it. If they really cared about our voices being heard, either one could have spoken up before the election as we already knew months before that our vote would not count, but neither one did until they found out our delegates could make a difference for Clinton. I bet Clinton and Granholm would feel differently about this if Clinton was in the lead right now and Obama had won our state's primary!!!!!!!!!

[Richard Tafoya]

Actually, running a valid primary within the accepted time window wouldn't be changing the rules, it would be following the rules. There's no rule prohibiting that from happening, regardless of whether an invalid primary already took place.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Why is it always Florida...? *sigh*

[ConnieB]

Our governor SIGNED a bill stating our primary would be Jan 15...so that is what makes it valid in our state and this do over wrong. She knew our delegates could possibly be taken away, and at the time she didn't care. She stated that bringing the candidates to Michigan to hear our issues was more important, and also that by the time Feb came around and I quote Gov. Granholm " this contest is going to be over by then". Now all of a sudden she wants a do over, so the delegates count for her candidate...Clinton. I can gaurantee if Obama had won MI, this would not be an issue here today, and same with FL. The candidates and states agreed with the rules, and knew by doing so the delegates would not count. Why should we get a do over???? I didn't hear any mention of a do over for months before the primary...all I heard every day was that our vote would not count because of us moving our primary...never anything about possible do overs until NOW. Our state decided to change our primary knowing full well the consequences of this action...now our state and the candidates need to live with it. Maybe next time, they won't play around with elections.