Brilliant Tactical Move By Team Clinton Re: Florida

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Regardless of whether or not the Florida delegates will ultimately be seated Team Clinton has forced the press to talk about the Florida primary where she will win by a wide margin...

Florida is the fourth most populous state in the union and has closely mirrored the national results the last two cycles...

They are playing chess while everybody else is playing checkers...

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. It also won't hurt in the GE if she's the nom

[mondo joe]

4. Yup. Reinforces the case that she'l fight for them. NT

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Bill Clinton Is The Last Dem To Carry FL

He got 48% in a three person race...

IMHO, she can put it in play... The formula is the same for any succesful state wide Dem...Kick ass in Southeast Florida, win Central Florida by a small margin, and avoid being clobbered in the northern part...

[MADem]

11. No. Gore carried it. But those results didn't count. The Supreme Court substituted their judgment

in that case.

[MADem]

9. That's the truth! Unless all those little "blind, befuddled" Jewish ladies vote for Buchanan again!!

"Oi, vey, I meant to vote for Clinton, but somehow I wrote in Buchanan! Why, oh WHY, do I keep doing that!!!"

If you've ever heard Pat Buchanan talk about election fraud, he is the first person to admit that something was MASSIVELY wrong with that vote count. He knew he wasn't suddenly winning over the Jewish-Retired-Condo-Widow crowd!

[cobalt1999]

2. What is the looming question is...

What if Hillary would win the nomination with Florida votes counting, but doesn't without them?

[Coexist]

3. bah - a win in Florida is meaningless if the press is honest. Most Florida Dems won't even vote

for a primary candidate - it really doesn't take the pulse of the state at all.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. I Am Taking My Soon To Be Ninety Year Old Mom To Vote Later This Afternoon

She has voted for every Democratic pres since FDR beat Wilkie in 1940...

[rinsd]

8. FL Dems are turning out already in large numbers

TALLAHASSEE - Nearly 7 percent of Florida's 10-million registered voters have already cast their ballots for Tuesday's election, suggesting the vote may buck the recent trend of lackluster turnout.

Nearly 700,000 voters had voted early or returned absentee ballots as of Thursday. Just 786,000 voted in the uncontested 2004 presidential primary.

Fueling the turnout is a jumbled Republican presidential contest and Amendment 1, a statewide referendum on a pocketbook issue, property taxes. In fact, one in 10 of the early voters aren't affiliated with a major party and can't vote in the presidential primary.

<snip>

Republicans are outpacing Democrats in requesting and returning absentees - an area where the GOP historically has held an advantage in Florida. Democrats' absentee returns are proportionally higher than in past elections, and they hold a slight lead in early voting despite the statewide boycott by their party's presidential hopefuls.

So far 325,161 Republicans have cast early or absentee votes, compared to 295,932 Democrats.

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/25/State/Early_vote_may_be_dec.shtml

[papau]

10. ? - the mailed in vote is over 700,000 already

[cobalt1999]

12. ...and you're from this state?

You can't be that out of touch. The numbers are as good or better than any primary season.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. The State party estimate is currently 1,000,000 votes in the Dem primary

More requests for absentee ballots this year than in 2004

[quinnox]

5. Yes!

Hillary's campaign is amazing, really

I'm so impressed.

And anyway, it would be stupid to diss Florida in the first place by not seating delegates, kind of an important state for Democratic party chances!?

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. Exactly.

She is taking exactly the right line on this. Florida has been punished already by the 4 State pledge the candidates agreed to against campaigning in Florida this year. Hillary has not broken the terms of that pledge even after Obama did, when he unilaterally bought national cable advertizing that reaches 6.5 million Florida households. But her statement now urging her delegates to allow Florida's delegates to at least get seated at the National Convention gives her better free press in Florida than Obama bought and paid for while breaking the terms of that pledge.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. That's An Ancillary Benefit I Didn't Realize

~

[Armstead]

14. Tactical but hypocritical -- Where was she when it mattered?

If she has this passion for voters to be participants, why didn;t she stand up for them back when the whole fracas was being decided?

She joined with Obama and Edwards and other candidates in agreeing not to campaign there.

If she were not a hypocrite, she would have taken this position back then, instead of going along to get along, and now changing her tune.

[Tom Rinaldo]

17. I think it makes good sense and in no way is hypocritcal

As I said before, I honestly feel that the 4 State Pledge was and is the heart and soul of pressuring Florida to comply with DNC rules, not ultimately whether Florida's delegates actually get seated.

And I have also always supported Howard Dean and the DNC regarding their efforts to prevent total chaos with all the states trying to crowd the front of the nominating Primary cycle. It really is getting crazy, Candidates were forced to campaign throughout the heart of the Christmas holiday season in Iowa this year. The number of states that have piled onto Feb. 5th this time makes campaigning in every one of them in person virually impossible, and TV campaigning prohibitively impossible for more than a couple of candidates.

I think the time to fight for Primary slots is at the DNC meetings held in advance. That is where this mess needs to be ironed out. Both Florida and Michigan agreed for 2008 and then violated their own agreements. I was a big supporter of the 4 State Pledge, and pragmatically I have always known that we can't afford to bar Floridas delegates at the door this Summer when they arrive at the National Convention. In this case I honestly think Hillary has it right.

[Armstead]

21. You make good points -- My problem though is with her handling of it

If she really had strong feelings about this, she should have stated it clearly and fought harder for it back then.

Frankly, it reminds me of her pattern on so many issues. She was all for "free trade" and treaties like NAFTA when that was the conventional wisdom. Now that the winds have shifted, she shifts with them....Same with Iraq and many other issues.

She and her husband are just so.....wiggly.

[snappyturtle]

18. I think the whole thing stinks and is a rove-like action. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. What?

Making sure every vote counts...

I thought that's what the Pugs opposed in 00...

[snappyturtle]

40. The Florida Democratic party started this...and then the candidates

had an agreement to stay out...right? It seems to me that now HRC is now trying to change what they agreed to and I don't like the tactic. If FL Dems had stayed in the primary line-up, or for that matter, all the states so far, we wouldn't be at this juncture and then every vote would have counted. The Floridians did it to themselves. It's just my opinion. It's so divisive to do this now. Everybody is in such a hurry...it all started too early and has taken a toll on all of the candidates. Of course if I had my way I'd like to see the whole thing decided at the convention....conventions were really something at one time...I'm old.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. Why Should Floridians Be Disenfranchised?

Are they not citizens?

Are they not tax payers?

Is not the blood of Florida's young men and women being spilled in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[WyLoochka]

26. This was all settled

The rules were in place and Floridians knew the consequences of trying to change the rules after the fact.

Your state's breech of contract and breech of trust with the rest of us Dems is what is disenfranchising your Democratic primary voters.

That IS as it should be.

You people are no more important than the rest of us who live dispersed through 49 other states, even though you think you are.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. I Am Not Responsible For Anybody's Actions But My Own

And the Republican controlled legislature determined the primary date...That's why only half their delegates will be seated...

Who cares?

Everybody will see Hillary kick ass in the fourth most populous state in the Union and that will give her tremendous momentum going into Super Tuesday...

[JackORoses]

38. because your elected officials broke the rules.

You are bound by any other law they pass.
You are bound by this one.

Take it up with your State Officials. Quit blaming it on everyone but the people who are responsible.

[mtnsnake]

25. Brilliant, not fucked up. nt

[BootinUp]

34. You sound just a bit little disgruntled. lol nt

[madfloridian]

23. Brilliant.....helped us think about our decisions in the future.

When truth and honesty no longer matter....then why bother.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. How Do You Explain To The Brave Floridians Fighting In Iraq And Afghanistan Their Votes Won't Be

Counted?

[WyLoochka]

27. They would have been counted

had you not broken the agreement you made with the rest of us.

[madfloridian]

29. Oh Dear God, a guilt trip? What else will you try?

That is just so transparent.

[jefferson_dem]

31. Demagogic much?

That's just plain stupid. This has nothing to do with Iraq and Afghanistan.

[jefferson_dem]

30. That's what's so wrong about the ClintonInc Camp.

It's all about "tactical moves". Whatever it takes to win.

If they win this way, we all lose. I'm sorry you can't see that.

[pampango]

36. That's what excites many in the Clinton camp - brilliant tactical moves.

Bill is the master and few can deny that.

Obama and Clinton are 1A and 1B for me, but I hate to see any of them sell out the party for their own political gain.

[JackORoses]

39. there is a difference between brilliant and underhanded

apparently you aren't aware of this.

[Essene]

32. Yea, real einstein stuff there... *roll eyes*

n/t

[David Zephyr]

33. Oooooo. Let's talk about a hollow victory. So Clintonian.

Fits the pattern perfectly.

Spin nothing into something and something into nothing.

And you wonder why Americans are tired of this couple?

[PATRICK]

35. She is playing checkers

easily with our party while Rove is playing chess with the nation- unopposed.

[Lucinda]

37. Excellent point!

:D