Democrats have a big problem on their hands. As a result, they need to redo the Florida and Michigan primaries. Today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that party leaders in both states need to design proposals for holding new nominating contests.
The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of their delegates when they moved their votes earlier in the schedule. Senator Clinton won in both states. But most of the Democratic candidates -- including Senator Obama -- had withdrawn their name from the ballot in Michigan. Based on a pledge, none of the candidates conducted campaigns in Florida, although some of Clinton's opponents claim that she violated the agreement by making a few appearances in the Sunshine State before the day of the vote.
Now the context has changed. Super Tuesday did not decide the contest. Democrats are facing a brutal contest that will last into the summer convention. Senator John McCain is grinning as he watches the Democratic bloodbath. The irony that an embattled Republican Party managed to unite around a candidate relatively quickly and Democrats are fighting each other tooth and nail is hard to ignore.
Neither faction in the Democratic Party can argue that the primaries will produce a decisive winner. To be sure, the delegate count favors Obama. He has done extraordinarily well in small states, especially those that depend on caucuses, as well as in several battle ground states like Missouri. At the same time, Clinton won the popular vote in almost all of the large states: California, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas.
The situation won't be clarified in the months ahead. Obama will likely win in Wyoming and Mississippi while Clinton has an excellent chance of taking Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico.
This is why a new vote in Florida and Michigan is essential. Democrats have no choice. Obama's supporters sometimes complain that holding a new vote in those states would be akin to changing the rules in middle of the game. Yet the decision of the Democratic Party was a poor one, and bad rules sometimes need to be corrected. Obama supporters have themselves made this argument when warning against having "superdelegates" decide this contest. The rules, as created in the 1980s, empower superdelegates to make this kind of choice. Moreover, it seems odd that a candidate whose campaign has promised to create a better political system would be happy if voters in Florida and Michigan were silenced.
At the same time, counting the votes that already took place would not be fair. Obama did not have his name on the ballot in Michigan and he did not campaign in Florida. The results simply do not reflect a genuine contest. If Clinton wins this campaign by relying on the votes that took place, the selection would cause just as much bitterness as if those voters are left out. Democrats should also stick to the conventional process in those states to avoid any claims that the process was changed to favor one or the other candidate.
Democrats have two excellent candidates to choose from. Even though the contest has been rough and Republicans quickly united behind a formidable candidate, there is still reason to believe that the high enthusiasm for both candidates bodes well for the party. All the more reason to get this decision right. And if the contest does come down to superdelegates, they need to at least see what voters in Michigan and Florida are thinking before making their decision.
Democrats can't afford to let votes not be counted. After all, Democrats were the party burned in the 2000 election when the Supreme Court stopped recounts from taking place in Florida. The bitterness that resulted from that decision remains with the party until this day.
For all these reasons, let's bring Florida and Michigan back into the picture. That should be something that all Democrats should be able to unite on.
Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the co-editor of "Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s," which will be published this spring by Harvard University Press.
Based on where things stand with this razor thin election [2.3% between them], I am of the opinion that we MUST ensure that EVERY ballot caste is counted, every voice heard, finish the contest.
After all...this is a democracy...right?
2008 Democratic Popular Vote from RealClearPolitics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html
--
As of 3/7/08:
Popular Vote Total - -
Obama -- 13,000,655 = 51.2%
Clinton -- 12,411,705 = 48.8%
-----------------------------------
Total: 25,411,825
Difference of: 588,950 or 2.3%
=======================
Popular Vote (w/FL) - -
Obama --13,576,869
Clinton --13,282,691
Popular Vote (w/FL & MI)* - -
Obama --13,576,869
Clinton --13,611,000
I say, throw Florida out. Just so you understand, our dear Gov. is now threatening to withhold any democratic nominee from our Florida ballots come election day, if you don't let Hillary get our electorates.
Howard Dean, the Forrest Gump of democratic leadership, fell right into the hands of the RNC. Replace him, and let's make all primaries on the same day. This is ridiculous.
Fact: Clinton intentionally left her name on the Michigan ballot, Obama, Edwards and others intentionally left their names off.
Fact: The estimated cost of do-over primaries will be about $20 Million, according to many sources.
Proposal: Let the results stand in Florida. Don't disenfranchise the million plus voters who actually voted. In Michigan, give Hillary her 55%, and give Obama the 40% uncommitted. The outcome is that Clinton nets about 60 more delegates than Obama. This is not enough change the current delegate count situation, but it does recognize the voters. Those who didn't vote should not be able to negate the votes of those who went to the polls. It's not the American way.
Do not waste $20 Million dollars for a result that will do nothing to change the current situation. Don't disenfranchise the voters. Get past this and spend the Democratic party's money defeating John McCain and the Republican Congressional candidates.
It amazes me how liberals and leftist democrats want to sweep Michigan and Florida under the rug. What happened to "count all the votes?"
Just goes to show you that these "moveon.org" types are no different than those republicans that sacked Al Gore, in fact, I'd say they are worse.
Come up with a plan, let the chips fall where they may, and be done with it. But those of you in the Obama camp who are attempting write off Michigan and Florida as null and void got some real questions you need to be asking yourself.
Hillary '08
Therefore, she needs to boost her numbers by having a re-do. Let's start all over again. The $200 million she and Bill solicited early on from major corporate donors is not enough. She wants more. Give her more money so she can buy more superdelegates. That's all that's going on. The more time she has remaining to campaign, the more money she can get, and use that money to buy votes from superdelegates.
Yes, Obama's doing it too. The difference is that Obama has received the majority of votes from the citizens and Clinton has not. One would think that the candidate who most of the people have chosen would be given the party's nomination. We now know that's not true, and the Democratic party is not really democratic at all.
Superdelegates may have originally started as a scheme to prevent the citizens from choosing the candidate. But it surely has evolved into just another corrupt money-laundering system of bribery for party hacks and insiders. I assume the DNC uses money they raise from the citizens (which the citizens think will be used to support candidates) -- but I assume the DNC uses some of that money to pay for a nice vacation for the superdelegates, this year in Denver. Surely they will stay in the finest hotels, fly first class, eat in the finest restaurants, take private limos and not cabs, and generally have a first-class vacation paid by the DNC, just to start. Then on top of that, the candidtes give them money to bribe them, and/or offer other things of value such as contacts, jobs, book deals. It's so corrupt it's disgusting and it needs to end.
Hillary has been silent on the rights of citizens to vote in the past, so why is she suddenly such a supporter of having "every vote count?" Where was Hillary in 2000 when the Florida votes were stolen? Remember, only members of the black congressional caucus stood up, and not one senator would stand up and demand that the votes of the citizens of Florida be counted. Hillary was silent because she didn't give a hoot if Gore got elected, and probably preferred that he did not since she might want to run in 04.
Please, skip the Hillary as defender of the right to vote. When it mattered to the constitution, she didn't care.
Hillary's slogan on this issue should be: Count The Hillary Votes. Every Vote For Hillary Counts.
Warfunding,Endgame and the like need to tilt the feed away from the favor of Obama?
The DNC would have to raise the money or open a line-of-credit, which would put the party at a sincere disadvantage when compared to the RNC (which has $25 million in the bank, of $97 million raised this year). A re-vote in Florida could be so expensive we would essentially be cutting off our nose to spite our face.
http://logicalandtrue.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/a-solution-for-florida-and-michigan-delegates-conundrum/
Essentially, my suggestion is that the states put up websites asking the voters of their states to make voluntary donations to cover the expenses of new primaries. I also suggested that Senators Clinton and Obama could each kick in a few Million dollars to get things rolling. Of course, contributions would not have to be restricted to the voters in Florida and Michigan. I’m sure that many Obama and Clinton supporters across the country would make donations for this purpose. In fact, it might not even be necessary for the states to set up their own websites. Senators Obama and Clinton could each solicit donations from their supporters explicitly for the purpose of holding new contests in these states and accept the donations through their own websites. They could then pass on such donations to the states.
My solution would let the voters of Florida and Michigan have their votes counted to the maximum extent while also conforming to the DNC rules and avoiding chaos in future elections. I do agree with those who argue that Florida and Michigan must find solutions that fit within the rules of the DNC that were agreed to long before their rule-breaking primaries. Allowing the early primaries to count would invite chaos in future election cycles. However, these rules do allow new contests provided that the states submit the plans to the DNC for approval. They have had this option all along.
Senator Obama has clearly said over and over that he would abide by the Party's decision. Why are you misstating his position, what kind of discussion could you propose when you distort facts?
"At the same time, counting the votes that already took place would not be fair."
You failed to mention that this is exactly the Clinton position.
"Democrats should also stick to the conventional process in those states to avoid any claims that the process was changed to favor one or the other candidate."
You're too late to prevent a caucus in MI, it's going to happen!
The country is in trouble because the progressive elements are few and are truly saddled with the dead weight of fuzzy headed thinkers like yourself.
As an Obama supporter, I resent your implication. Counting the original vote would be wrong. However, I am in favor of having a new vote. On the other hand, Hillary has the released a statement saying she is against having a new primary or caucus. What is she afraid of?
Yes we can win Florida!
Yes we can win Michigan!
For one, Clinton had built-in name recognition. Because there was no campaigning, voters did not have an opportunity to learn more about Obama, Kucinich, Edwards or any of the other candidates who were in the race at that time.
Second, many people knew the election wasn't going to count, so they didn't bother going out to vote. By now deciding to count the vote, Democrats would be shutting out voters who would have participated.
Interesting that you consider duping someone to be an example of good judgment. By that standard, Bush has consistently shown good judgment.
She is now campaigning for McCain over a Democrat. The Clintons destroyed the Party in the 90s and they are doing it again.
Time for the Super Delegates to step in and shut her down. She can NOT be campaigning for a Republican! It is beyond outrageous, beyond monster.
She is destroying this Party's chances at the presidency. The Clintons lies and immoral behavior ensure 8 years of Bush and now they are campaigning for McCain.
Enough, every day a new lie, every day a new Rovian tactic, every day a new Rovian tactic. The apologists have said that she has to do what she has to do.
What do they say now that she is promoting and campaigning for McCain.
Enough.
How did Bill exit office more popular than Reagan? Simple he convinced enough dems that the east coast libs were never going to win a presidency. I can just see the repugs showing ads with Obama hugging all over Ted Kennedy