Seating the Florida and Michigan Delegates Is UNFAIR To Edwards

[Yavin4]

All of the Dem candidates agreed in advance to not campaign in either Michigan or FLA, and it's conceivable that Edwards could have done well enough in either state to continue his campaign.

To seat the delegates now is unfair to ALL of the then Dem candidates who all agreed not to campaign there.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. (& Obama)

[jackson_dem]

3. Obama ran ads in Florida and still lost by 300,000. Maybe he should be docked some delegates?

[MercutioATC]

5. He didn't "run ads in FL"

They were national ads that also aired in FL. He did not have the ability to remove them from the FL market.

[MonkeyFunk]

12. No matter how many times you guys say it

it's a lie.

He had ads running in Florida - therefore, he ran ads in Florida. They also happened to run elsewhere, but that's beside the point.

All the other candidates managed to avoid running ads in Florida - only Obama violated the pledge.

[MercutioATC]

13. How do you stop a national ad from running in Florida?

Explain it to me.

[msallied]

6. I was wondering about Edwards today...

I don't think he would have improved his standings all that much, but I think that everyone might have definitely gotten more votes, period, had it been a traditional election down there. If they're going to seat the friggen delegates, they need to either do it over or don't do it at all. I'm of the opinion that the status quo should remain in place. I don't like changing the rules in mid-game, period. It sets a very bad precedent and negates the purpose of having rules for these things in the first place.

[jackson_dem]

2. No

Edwards would have been screwed if Michigan and Florida counted then because of his financial problem. The first four states were small enough to allow him to compete. He couldn't have competed in Michigan and Florida and would have been much less competitive in IA, NH, and SC if he had to spend a lot of money in Florida and Michigan.

[Yavin4]

8. How Do You Know?

Edwards would have had a lot of appeal in a working class state like Michigan and a southern state like Florida. Maybe he wins enough to keep his campaign alive.

[andym]

11. Edwards is a good political strategist, so I think he would not have suspended his campaign

Edwards is a good political strategist, so I think he would not have suspended his campaign if, for example, FL and MI were on the Feb 5 election menu. I think one of the reasons he suspended was that none of the states on Super Tuesday had demographics as strongly in his favor as states like MI or FL (or OH).

He would have been at a financial disadvantage sure, but he had core constituencies in both states. I'm sure he would have used the debates and free appearances on shows like SNL and Late Night to compensate. If he had won these states, he would have been right there in the race and things today might be very different.

[rwheeler31]

4. Agree

[rwheeler31]

7. If Edwards campaigned in there ? Come on people.

[casus belli]

9. You've got a point.

This whole thing is such a cluster f#$!.

[2rth2pwr]

10. Just think if he had actually kept his promise

to stay in it all the way to the convention.