Mich. DNC member: Plan to split delegates flawed

LANSING, Mich. — A top Clinton supporter in Michigan said Thursday the state Democratic Party's plan to split the convention delegates between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama is "fatally flawed."

Democratic National Committee member Joel Ferguson sent a letter Thursday to the co-chairs of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee seeking to seat all of Michigan's delegates based on the results of the disputed Jan. 15 election. Failing that, he says the pledged delegates should get a half-vote each and superdelegates should get a full vote, a plan Florida also is proposing.

Clinton, who won Michigan's primary, wants to have the full delegation seated. Obama, who is close to having enough delegates to lock up the nomination, has opposed that, noting he took his name off the Michigan ballot after the DNC said it would strip the state of its delegates as punishment for moving up its primary date in violation of party rules.

The rules committee is to meet Saturday to hear plans for seating delegates from Michigan and Florida, which was also stripped of its delegates for holding a January primary.

His letter puts him at odds with the Michigan Democratic Party's chairman and executive committee, which support a proposed 69-59 split.

State Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer disagreed with Ferguson.

Under Ferguson's plan, Clinton would get 73 pledged delegates for winning the Michigan presidential primary, while "uncommitted" would get 55. The Clinton campaign has maintained that Obama should not get any Michigan delegates even though many of his supporters voted for "uncommitted."

"I am convinced that neither the RBC nor the DNC have the authority to take pledged delegates allocated to Hillary Clinton by virtue of the popular vote and assign them to either Uncommitted or to Barack Obama as the challenge seeks," Ferguson wrote in his letter.

The plan to split the delegates 69-59 was drawn up by a four-member team of prominent Michigan Democrats.

"We spent a lot of time working with both campaigns trying to figure out a solution," DNC member Debbie Dingell, who helped draw up the plan, said Thursday. "This is a consensus that was agreed to and the entire executive committee supported. At this point, we're fighting for a principle that's important."

Comments

[zizi]

I give up trying to understand these people. I think that it is time all the Democratic party presidential candidates --e.g. Dodd, Biden, Gravel, Edwards, Richardson, Kucinich, and Obama -- who began this contest to come together in unison to issue a statement on the rules that they ALL agreed to follow before the contest was underway. Such a collective statement would refocus attention on the PRINCIPLES as opposed to Hillary's quest for expediency. This ploy by the Clinton MI backer is wrongheaded.

[personalpolitical]

Fatally flawed? I think Obama gets ZERO is fatally flawed. No, it is more than that, it is INSANE!

[TheKnownTruth]

Make it so

[CanisLatrans]

I am amazed at the audacity of Hillary Clinton to claim she "won" Michigan & Florida. She "won" by being the only person on the ballot! This is "winning an election" as it appears in the Robert Mugabe book of "Elections for Dummies". Even with her as a choice, almost half the population still voted for "uncommitted" rather than punch her ticket-- an ordinarily perceptive person would take that as a hint. She is so blinded by her sense of entitlement --and maybe no doubt, revenge for the wringer she got put through in the '90's-- that she cannot see that.

[SpoxLogic]

You know what...give her the 73-55 split. That will net her 18. But under the condition that she doesn't count the popular votes. If she is adamant about keeping the votes, then give all non-Clinton votes to Obama.

Addtionally, since she's saying that all popular votes should count, then she should have no problems with converting the caucus votes into popular votes. (EVERY VOTE SHOULD COUNT, right?)

But, I doubt she'd agree to that, since doing so would put her so far behind in the votes that counting Mi, FL and PR will not help her catch up.

[Kingbreaker]

The thing is, I don't believe there is an "official tally" of the popular vote - because the nominee is officially chosen by a majority of delegates. So, even if it wanted to, the DNC couldn't "deny" Clinton the popular vote. Nor can they allocate it. According to the rules, it's a meaningless statistic. Clinton caa "win" twenty billion popular votes. It doesn't matter, except in so far as it influences the superdelegates. Declarations one way or the other are so much hot air.

[BlackLeatherRain]

Greedy, arrogant, elitist, lying SOB's.

Why not just say what they mean? Michigan should just allocate ALL of their delegates to Clinton, since she was the only candidate smart and sneaky enough to leave her name on the ballot when everyone had agreed to remove it. After all, as SNL pointed out, it's necessary to be a snake when going against the GOP machine, so being a liar and a cheat is a benefit here.

Disgusting people.

[xmw]

I agree with you. This is just the last straw for me. Hillary supporters want Obama to give Michigan to Clinton at all cost and above any moral platform. for them to want to treat obama this way is scary. They don't care how she lies and cheats and they are bending over backwards to help her steal the election. and they are suppose to be with the DNC. Bull!!!

[LulaB]

I’m with Obama
Lets not show up and turn this into a spectacle.

[olivia]

I'm participating by donating to Obama's campaign, via his website, while the Saturday meeting is in progress.

Hillary's supporters can yell and stomp their feet without me.

[longislandlol]

Oh-- were all these protestors watching "Recount'?

[allonfla]

That would make great headlines "Hillary Nets ___# of Delegates, Obama Breaks One Day Record For Online Donations"