Democrats Try to End Impasse Over Delegates

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — With the two Democratic presidential candidates in near-deadlock and battling for every delegate, party leaders and the rival campaigns started searching in earnest on Thursday for a way to seat barred delegations from Florida and Michigan. But they remained deeply divided over how to do so.

After weeks in which the issue hovered in the background, it shot to the forefront of the Democratic race as it became apparent that the delegates at stake could be vital in influencing whether Senator Barack Obama or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton wins the nomination.

Mrs. Clinton won the most votes in primaries in Florida and Michigan in January. But the states held their contests earlier than allowed by the Democratic National Committee’s rules, leading the party to strip them of their delegates to the nominating convention. Neither candidate campaigned actively in the two states, and Mr. Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan.

Mr. Obama has maintained a slim but steady lead over Mrs. Clinton in delegates awarded by voting in the primaries and caucuses of other states. The Clinton campaign is hoping she can translate her advantage in the popular vote in Florida and Michigan into a big share of their combined 367 delegates.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/us/politics/07delegates.html

[peacebird]

1. the rules were known before the ballots. Those delegates do not count. Hold new primaries

or caucuses in Florida and Michigan, then the delgates can be seated.

[cstanleytech]

3. Agreed.

It just does not seem....mmmm I guess the word is kosher.....that Hillary is pushing to have florida counted since if what I am hearing is accurate that Obamas name was not even on the ballot? I mean come on lets have a fair election, thats all I ask.
I dont care offhand which of them wins really, Hillary, Obama or Obama Hillary it just does not matter as long as Mccain loses so why fight among ourselves over which of the two wins when the real danger is division of the party which lets McCain and the republicans hold onto the whitehouse?
Are not 8 years nearly of whitehouse GOP corruption enough for people to put aside their differences and join together to teach the GOP that we will not accept such callous disregard that they have shown since they seized power?

[nvme]

7. It was Michigan

He was on the ballot in florida (I voted for him). The controversy here is: Hillary made "non campaign stops" here on the sunday Jan 27 and on the day of the election. That in my book is campaigning. All the other candidates did not campaign in florida.

[cstanleytech]

9. Thank you for clearing that up.

Course my point still stands, if she wants it counted then it needs to be a *fair* election be it Michigan or Florida.
If Hillary made stops there (florida) and Obama did not then it needs to be redone and Obama should have the chance to try and win over the people of Florida.

[bemildred]

2. There is no impasse, the rules are clear. nt

[BearSquirrel2]

4. Clinton will NOT accept revotes ...

The Clinton people do not want revotes as even with losses, Obama could get the delegates he needs for a majority. Denying the revote will throw the first vote and then the Clintons can bully delegates into their corner.

[Maineman]

6. "Will not accept" sounds just like Bush

The more I hear from Hillary, the more I realize she is a lot like Bush.

And Cheney. Cheney has said something like, "integrity is not worth anything if you lose." I judge that the Clintons agree with that statement. I also get the impression that Barack Obama would not agree.

[BearSquirrel2]

8. Terry McAulauff was clear ...

They will exercise the rules to their fullest extent. What we are seeing is not a battle between two candidates. It's a battle between two camps for control of the Democratic party. The DLC folks are willing to scorch the party in order to regain the reins of power. They see what Dean is doing as far as democratizing the party (kinda ironic for the Democrats) and they DESPISE it.

THEY want to control access to corporate boardroom money. THEY want to dole it out to those who are loyal. THEY want the Democratic party to be "Republican Lite" with a few social issues thrown in to maintain the mirage of a progressive party. The DLCers threw in the towel as far as economic progressivism. Besides a few tax rates, there is very little difference economically between John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

I freely admit that Obama has not shown himself to be much farther left then Hillary. But then I look out who he is getting his money from ... US ... and I realize that he is beholden primarily to the US citizenry rather than the boardroom citizenry.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is being artificially floated right now by the right wing propoganda machine who desperately want her to be the opponent so they can rally the troops against them. They are philosophically opposed to rallying FOR McCain. Beating up on Hillary serves their bottom line and if McCain will win, they can flail on him for 4 years too.

Please Hillary supporters, drop her for the good of the party.

[Voltaire99]

5. Obama followers: prepare for heartbreak.

If you think the Clintons will stop at anything, you haven't paid attention to their long, illustrious career.

This is phase one of gaming the nomination; phase two will be conducted behind closed doors.

That's Hillocracy for you!

[zonkers]

10. Great term. I googled "Gaming the nomination" and found only

3 hits, none of which relate to what we are talking about. I bet it gets picked up by many. BTW, that is exactly what she is doing.