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

[PTTY]

Why is it OK for Hillary to break her word and signature?

After the world is watching Clinton has she constantly moves the goal post, why would anyone ever think Hillary was a person that keeps her word.

How do one explains to their granddaughters why Hillary has the right to ignore rules and say and do what she wants to try and steal the election?

What type of a Role Model is Hillary? Bill was not a good Role Model either?

Why do both of the Clintons think they can cheat and then get mad when they are called out on their cheating and their lying?

It just smacks of Bush all over again. And now she has her supporters thinking its OK to break the rules, so they are going to vote for their worst enemy McBush Give Me a Break! Stop crying, As Bill says if you cannot stand the HEAT get out of the KITCHEN. Bill says this is a contact sport, so Bill stop Crying.

GOOD BY TO ROE v. WADE.

No more equal rights for women. Conservative Judges on Supreme Court

Thank you Democrats for McBush. Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran, MORE WARS

Our young men and women killed fighting those wars.

Shame on Dems for McBush

Why

[harriscrl3]

Do these people seriously think that if Hilary gets the nomination because of Michigan and Florida that BROKE the rules that they wont be MASS Protest in the streets.

They NEED To get a clue. MI and FL CANNOT determine this nominee. So I'm all for PICKING the nominee with the Most pledge delegates then Seating MI and FL however way they deem. But they CANNOT be the states to put Hilary over the top. Thats rewarding states that BROKE THE RULES!!!

Its RIDICULOUS that this even an issue. Even more ridiculous than the popular vote crap

Carol

[athenasword]

But... they should also not be counted in any other votes beyond a first ballot... as Bill suggested earlier this week, he believes this will go to more than one vote on the floor.

[OnePartyEqualsTyranny]

Clinton and her supporters
green with envy
wishing very much that you had what someone else has.

[KillTheMessenger]

Let's have a good protest of the Clinton supporters. Let's see if they will have as much fun as the 75,000 people who came to watch Obama. :-)

[egal]

"At this point, we're fighting for a principle that would punish those who acted lawfully and reward those who did not, and we believe it's important to make the votes of those who supported Hillary the only ones to count."

[realityczech4u]

I said the Dems were crazy back when they put Screamin' Howie Dean in charge of the party. Look at the pickle they've gotten themselves into.

[illinoisan]

Dean blazed the 50-state trail for the return of the Dems. A veritable army of small donors over 1.5 million strong will not only secure the WH but also provide healthy margins in both houses of Congress and eventually put a liberal majority safely in the Supreme Court.

History will treat Howard Dean well.

[bmsrosmuc]

exactly, the 50 state plan will improve the down-ticket ballots so that President Obama will have a majority to get things done!

Short term Dean takes a few hits, but long term, you are right, history will look fondly on Howard Dean.

[TonalCrow]

The "pickle" results from Hillary's two-faced dishonesty, not from the rules that Dean (and, BTW, all the candidates, including Hillary) agreed on before the primary.

As for Dean's overall effectiveness, his 50-state strategy has helped raise the Democratic Party from the dead in many "red" states. Without it we'd almost certainly not have John Tester in Montana -- and thus a Senate majority. And that's just one example of its effectiveness.

[lizr]

HOward Dean is the best thing that ever happened to the Dem Party.

His 50 State strategy has made our party viable in many places where it was ignored before.,

His candidacy was sabotaged by the media, using a mike that did not pick up the ambient noise around him.

Dean is a man of integrity and fairness, way more than I can say for one of the candidates in this race, sadly.

I guess you are one of those people who doesn't read much and therefore knows little of what he is talking about.

[peorgietirebiter]

yea what a pickle... what the hell are we going to do with all these pesky new voters... millions of the ragamuffins with their greasy $20 bucks every month... next thing you know we'll have friggin' coal miners and busboys thinking they're more than just a vote every 4 years. what's next, representing people? damn you howard...

[AxelDC]

Way to go out with with class, lady. You certainly show where your true loyalties are: to yourself.

[KarenKaren]

I think that in states where voters were told by their state parties, their registrars of voters, by the media, and by the campaigns that their votes WOULD NOT COUNT, those election RESULTS ARE FATALLY FLAWED. Strip Florida's delegates by half and allow no SDs. Split Mich 50/50 and allow no SDs.

[AllenD]

I fully agree with the no SD's. They are the elected officials and party hacks that created this mess in the first place.

[PAposter]

I agree about the Supers, but with all due respect, the candidates themselves signed off on this. I don't think the votes should count, because there is no way of knowing what the actual results would have been. The votes cast this year should be used to select the number of elected delegates for the next election.

[hank48188]

Pay no attention to the 2,500,000 DEMS who took the time to try to have their voices heard, Obama can win the Gereral without Fl and Mi.

[ropadopa]

This primary will be decided by the court. The Clinton campaign decided that long ago. No compromise, no settlement unless it is totally in her favor and by that she means she is declared the winner. They are banking on the perceived spinelessness of the leadership whom she dared and double-dared throughout the campaign ignoring any hint they may have passed her way. Obama must start putting together a legal team right-away to confront this because they have read his bid for the high road as a sign of softness.

[drzoon]

courts keep on tossing this out.

DNC is a "club". they can have any rules they want.

a judge in FL has tossed this three times for that very reason.

[KillTheMessenger]

Four times is a charm...

[hugs4u]

Anything less of banning the delegates, opens it up for any state to do what ever they want in 2012.

[illinoisan]

Excellent point. We could see the primary season starting on Labor Day in 2011.

[dollars2donuts]

Here come the *drama queens*. Imagine a Hillary presidency it would be SO MUCH DRAMA.

Memo to Hillary's militant feminist supporters: go home, and donate some $$ to your girrrl so she won't have to dip into her $109 Million to pay off her $25 million campaign debt and the unpaid vendors, LOL.

And so Bill won't have to go trolling for dough in Kazakhstan again!

[thepoliticalcat]

It's actually $133 million. Mrs. Clinton took advantage of a loophole that allowed her to avoid declaring a further $24 million of her husband's income.

[AllenD]

I agree. An Soviet style election in which there is only one person on the ballot and the voters think is meaningless can give a person a true mandate to govern.

Signed:

Robert Mugabe
President for Life, Zimbabwe

[gulopartisan]

The onlly thing "fatlly flawed" about the compromise is that it doesn't hand HRC the Presidency. Who cares what this guy thinks?

[RThM]

The MSM does. They will present every babbling fool as if his incoherent thoughts mattered. And then the MSM is guaranteed to ask only the slightest and most ineffectual questions in response to the drivel before they move on to other slight and ineffectual questions that just evoke more drivel.

[the964kid]

The only thing 'fatally flawed' is Hillary Clinton's campaign.

[eurydice]

If the liar and criminal Hillary steals the nomination, I won't vote for McCain.

I simply won't vote.

What will be the point of voting, when the people's choice doesn't matter.

This is a Democracy. Nobody is entitled to be President.
You are entitled to be elected.

[OhioJan]

I thought that way too. However, I've decided to vote either Independent or Libertartian: Barr will be bad, but not AS bad as John Bush, George McCain, or Hillary Racist Clinton! Maybe we could pressure a DECENT person to switch over to Indy? OBAMA?!?!?