Michigan Democrats: Split Delegates 69-59

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Democrats working to get the state's delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday suggested splitting them 69-59 between presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

The Democratic National Committee stripped Michigan of its 128 delegates for holding its presidential primary too early in the year. The state also has 28 superdelegates.

Clinton has argued that she should get 73 delegates based on the results of the Jan. 15 primary, which she won _ 18 more than Obama.

Obama, who removed his name from the ballot, wants the 128 pledged delegates split evenly, 64-64.

The compromise, suggested Tuesday in a letter to Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer, fell halfway between the two proposals.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the campaign looked forward to working with national and Michigan Democrats to find a solution.

Clinton spokesman Isaac Baker said "the bottom line is that Michigan's votes must be counted."

The four Michigan Democrats who made the proposal are Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger, Sen. Carl Levin and Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell, wife of Rep. John Dingell.

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"While we expect that neither candidate will explicitly embrace this approach, we believe that the DNC should adopt it and both candidates should accept it because it is fair and because it would resolve an impasse that with each passing day hurts our chances of carrying Michigan and winning the presidency," they wrote.

Michigan Democratic Party spokeswoman Liz Kerr said Brewer was reviewing the proposal and had no comment.

The DNC stripped Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates _ 366 in all, including pledged delegates and superdelegates _ for holding their primaries too early in the nominating process, which violated party rules.

Clinton and Obama agreed not to campaign in either state as a result, and Obama joined other candidates in removing their names from Michigan's ballot.

Clinton won both contests. Trailing in delegates, with 2,025 needed to become the party's presidential nominee, Clinton and her campaign have been pressing for those primary results to be recognized. Obama, who wants to preserve his lead, objects.

Both states have abandoned plans to hold do-over contests that would count, but are demanding to be allowed to participate in the voting for the nominee at the party's national convention in Denver in late August.

Last week, the party's Rules and Bylaws committee announced a May 31 meeting to consider a separate plan to give each pledged delegate half a vote at the convention as a way to resolve the dispute over Florida's and Michigan's contests. Superdelegates would keep their full votes under the plan.

Comments

[hank48188]

Obama stopped a re-vote in Florida and Michigan, he knows he would lose big in both States. Obama is a weak pussy and is damaged goods, he should drop out for the good of the Party, get a new Church and Pastor, get rid of the WEATHERMEN TERRORISTS and Tony Rezko and come back in a few years.

[RThM]

Rove. Welcome! Hillary is glad to have your support. We see you've briefed yourself on the superficials.

[jupitor]

Look hank48188 you don't have to use foul language to get your point across that you support clinton! The law is the law! Contracts sir are binding! Your candidate Clinton signed a binding contract------now she is loseing she wants to break the contract with out appearing in court for a lawful decision! that's not the way our country works! You don't change our laws or rules to suit your needs-----­----otherw­ise there would be chaos in todays world! Not even the rich and famouse such as the Clintons get to walk all over our rules and laws of the land! now as far as Tony Rezko go you haven't heard that subjects been droped when pictures of Rezko and his wife and the Clintons showed and it became known He donated not only to their past campagnes but he also donated to promonent Republicans like John Mccain budy Joe lieberman! Now for the Pastor! I think you should check into Hillarys connection with "The Family" bible study group and find out what they stand for! Than Mccains got his own Hate the Wh!@## Cathelic Pastor who really off his rocker! So the pastor thing is even to!

[FrankBlackFrancis]

stop drinking the koolaid. He did not and he would not. And the rest is just weak.

[snobama]

considering that chicken-in-chief obama ducked out of having a re-vote i dont think he deserves the 59 delegates. After all people who voted uncommitted were also voting for Edwards.

Fair would be 69 for clinton , 30 for edwards , 30 for obama
Edwards can advice his delegates on how to vote at the convention.

[RThM]

No one deserves any of the votes because the election was tainted. This is a all fake controversy that Clinton and her people have kept stoked because it's useful to make her seem like some kind of martyr cheated out of votes. Above all, it's a cynical political ploy and fair is sticking to the rules that the primaries from FL and MI don't count.

[cramos]

Like that! That is fair.

[jupitor]

Do you snobama and cramos get to break the law with out contriversy? well sense Hillary did not take her name off the MI election like all the rest did when asked, Than she should have to suffer the concequence's of breaking the rules! All other candidates with drew their name upon request ! She did not------------So she's really getting reward here for breaking rules and therefore I think it's fair that it's 50/50. As Obama followed the rules and she did not! In this land it's called being Fair, and doing the right thing! the delegates are seated and they would indeed be happy about that! I feel Obama is being generouse given he obeyed the rules and she broke them! Upon this No vote counting only 50/50 on seating the delegates! There now it's done and over and seattled! If Fl wants to be seated do it the same way!

[kdublya]

Fair schmair,

Everyone agreed in advance, Michigan and Florida results are fruit of the poisonous tree.
For the moments, Clinton has managed to close her deficit by 18 delegates. After May 31st, however it becomes a November battleground issue. Remember, it's only an issue because Republican wolves are circling,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/29/newt-gingrich-on-the-view_n_99189.html

Prior to May 31st, leadership now has clear directive to distance the party from this issue.
If this point isn't moot by then, either candidate will be torn a new one for "not representing" Michigan and Florida.

ps Sorry Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.

Vote Democrat, Please!?

:)

[momofsix]

Fair would be Michigan following the rules to begin with and when they chose not to, then living with the consequences.
Obama did not stop the revotes both states legislatures stopped the revotes because of time and money.

[hardsun]

Giving Clinton more delegates validates her argument, regardless of the margin. The delegates should be split 50/50.

[Laprawler501]

Obama should get 0 delegates in MI because he got 0 votes

[momofsix]

Get off of it already, he got 0 because he did what he agreed to do, what all the democratic candidates including Hillary agreed to do. But Hillary decided to have an insurance policy just in case she didn't do as well as she thought in the primaries. She broke the rules, she is the one who shouldn't be rewarded.

[BlackMagicWoman]

Maybe because his name was on 0 ballots?

[Kache]

And Hillary should be required to write "I WILL NOT CHEAT" on the blackboard 10,000 times during recess, and get 0 votes for cheating.

[aliceblue]

Absolutely. Six year olds in the school yard
have a better grasp of fairness than this
bunch. I cannot believe this decision.

[globality]

NO his name was not on the ballot. She will use this to say that the popular vote in Michigan should be counted

[RThM]

Hillary Clinton let Obama take his name off the ballot without also taking hers off. To seat any delegates at this point with anything but a 50/50 split completely violates the spirit of fairness, is undemocratic and... well.. is just plain un-American.

[cramos]

Fairness would have been to allow the people to vote......­But OBAMA did not want that!

[RThM]

Obama had nothing to do with it and your logic is impaired. It's like saying, "So. When did you stop beating your wife." Try a few brain excercises and come back when you're better.

[Canaris]

What a ridiculous idea.

Seat the delegates if you want, but to award Hillary ten more delegates based on her victory over "uncommitted" is so wrong only Hillary and her true believers could call it fair.

[NoFactsJustTruth]

I said MONTHS ago to make BOTH states, Michigan AND Florida a 50/50 split, then at least the delegates get to go to the convention and have a good time with the rest of their party members. There is NO WAY either state should be ANY type king/queen maker after breaking party rules THEY WERE AWARE OF, as did Hillary when she failed to remove her name as the Party asked all candidates to do in Michigan. MANY Florida voters have, in fact, reported they stayed home instead of going to vote because they had been told ahead of time their votes would not count.

And, if 'Hillary I'm-ahead-­in-popular­-votes' wants to count Michigan and Florida votes in HER rationalized total, conservative estimates should be tabulated for ALL of the caucases where votes were not kept track of for either candidate, which would put Senator Obama up by a couple of MILLION, unless she doesn't REALLY want all the votes counted.

SHE is NOT the Democratic Party and does not get to set the rules. Too bad, so sad.

[MichaelJoy]

Look at the big picture Obama supporters: Hllary is unlikely to go along with this suggestion, because it gives her just 10 more delegates than Obama. She's down 150 delegates, so those 10 delegates that she picks up mean NOTHING.

But if Obama agrees to the Michigan suggestion, then it's Hillary who doesn't want to seat the Michigan delegates and she'll need to explain to everyone why - after all this hullabaloo - she doesn't want to seat the Michigan delegates.

It's also puts the delegate where it should be - right smack in the center of attention - and pushes other ways of measuring "electability" out of bounds. This is, after all, a primary and ONLY the delegate count matters.

GOBAMA!

[Gary47]

Good point. It's an opportunity for him to look like a statesman and put the squeeze on Hillary. Although many Obamabots would rather scorch the Earth than allow Barack to unfairly lose half a delegate.

[JamesAndre]

Right. Most of us know that after the 6th Obama will only need about 150 delegates to clinch. Go ahead, seat Michigan and Florida.

[kdublya]

Not to mention great timing!

Given a May 31st meeting, it only gets interesting if Clinton manages to pull within 0-18 delegates.
Let's face it, candidates will continue to split squat.

More good news,

Dean/Pelosi/Reid's June 3rd immunity rollover moved forward 4-5 days!
In order to avoid getting embroiled in this fiasco, leadership endorsements should trickle in faster.

[RThM]

She knows she's lost the race the fair way, so she's betting the bank on getting the supers to overturn the results. Getting FL and MI seated in her favor might provide some cover to that coup but it isn't a big enough rug to really hide the stinking pile of excrement this back room deal represents. She looses even if you count those votes as they stand. At this moment, though, Hillary will probably not go along with the split because then she can't continue claiming she was "cheated" out of wins and the supers have to "fix" it. She probably figures she has a credible chance at this ploy because most of the supers are party hacks who have feed off the money directed to the DNC over the years by the Clintons. They owe her husband and she's pressing to collect. Democracy be damned.

[abouttime]

RE: ''Clinton won both contests."
This is why I dislike the mainstream media. Theyr'e sloppy with facts.
Obama, as the article states, was not even on the ballot nor campaigning, in Michagin. So how is it that Clinton won Michigan? The election is Michagin was a farce. Any equation for counting delegates is not "democratic" and is therefor a miscarraige of justice. Rules are made to be applied - if not, then the system is a farce as well.

[jupitor]

Your logic aboutime is flawed! They were all asked to take their names off the MI ballot! Everyone and I say every one complied , but Hillary Clinton! She doesn't understand rules or laws! She's the rich and powerful who thinks the laws are for us common people to follow , not her! But your right about her committeing a farce in thinking she should recieve mor delegates because she broke the rules! but of course To Mrs. Clinton this all makes sense and logic to her! We do not reward people who break the rules or the laws of he land! But maybe if you ask she will pardon you if you are a terrorist or belong to a terrorist group . I understand the Clintons are good at doing that!

[marlainWA]

I think it should be 50/50 to be fair to the rules. Hillary by all her dirty tricks is saying to America I can be just like Bush. For a woman who wrote a book on raising kids I sure don't want my kids raised by her morals.

[Tranquility08]

Do the split but then only count half the delegates and no superdelegates. The Michigan superdelegates are the one's that screwed the deal up.

[Kache]

It's worse than that. Who pushed the change in Michigan's primary date? Clinton supporter Gov Granholm. When told the primary would not count, she dug her heels in deeper. This was a setup from day one. Bith of them deserve a few years in Leavenworth for voter fraud.

[rlunch]

And why should Hillary get 10 more delegates? Because she didn't take her name off the ballot as they were all supposed to?

I don't think so.

50/50 is the only fair way to do it.

[aplegrand]

This makes absolutely no sense. It should be 50/50 or unseated.

[Mrwilliams2u]

Michigan Dummycrats have definetly been smoking some strong stuff.

[U4IA]

Hash Bash is a good time.

[KMan1]

The votes will be split down the middle don't you worry Michigan and Florida.