Florida, Michigan seek exit from Democratic penalty box

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Florida, Michigan seek exit from Democratic penalty box
From John Zarrella and Patrick Oppmann

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- ....Political leaders in Florida and Michigan are talking about making sure voters in their states are included when it comes to choosing the Democratic nominee. The discussions are unfolding amid a grueling, delegate-by-delegate fight between Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. The national Democratic Party stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates to the national convention after the states moved up the dates of their primary elections. That means votes that were cast in primaries in those states will not translate into delegates awarded to one candidate or the other in the contest for the Democratic nomination for president.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said the states can either come up with a new plan to choose a slate of delegates or appeal to the party's credentials committee when the convention opens in August. "The rules were set a year and a half ago. Florida and Michigan voted for them and then decided that they didn't need to abide by the rules. When you're in a contest you do need to abide by the rules," he said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning." The national Democratic Party stripped Florida -- epicenter of the 2000 election debacle -- of its 210 national convention delegates as punishment for the state's decision to move its party primaries to January 29. Michigan received the same treatment after moving its primary date to January as well, losing its 156 convention delegates.

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, called on the Democratic National Committee to seat their states' delegations. They accused the party in a statement of silencing "the voices of 5,163,271 Americans" who voted in their primaries....

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Wednesday night in Washington, Democratic House members from Florida and Michigan met for about an hour to talk about possibilities that would lead to delegations from those states influencing the outcome of the Democratic nominating contest....They pledged to continue discussions, though no formal meeting has been scheduled....

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, was the only leading Democrat to appear on ballots in Michigan and made a handful of allowed fund-raising appearances in Florida in the last days before the vote, while other candidates skipped the state. She won both contests. Now, as she trails Obama by 100-plus delegates, Clinton has called for the Michigan and Florida delegations to be seated at the party's convention in Denver, Colorado....

Crist told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday that he supported holding another primary to resolve the dispute. But Wednesday, he said the state would not pay for a second contest....Party officials have said they will not pay for Florida to hold a new primary because they warned the state not to move up its primary. But (Florida Senator Bill) Nelson said the party's stance was unfair, since it was Republican lawmakers in Tallahassee and a Republican governor, Crist, who decided to move up the state's primary over the opposition of Democrats....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/06/florida.michigan/index.html