Florida and Michigan Prove Again that the Clintons Don't Believe the Rules Apply to Them

Bill and Hillary Clinton like to say that they're committed to fighting for people "who work hard and play by the rules". The Clintons may work hard, but their bending of the spirit, if not the letter, of Democratic Party rules which they agreed to follow in Michigan and Florida, demonstrate that playing by the rules is not something the Clintons believe applies to them.

Both the Democratic and Republican National Committees were put in a difficult position by Michigan and Florida, which moved up their primary dates in violation of Party rules meant to give some order to the voting process. Given the importance of Michigan and Florida to the fall election, the Republican National Committee probably played it smarter than the DNC. The RNC allowed Republicans to campaign in Michigan and Florida primaries, while denying those states half their Convention delegates. The DNC stripped those states of all of their delegates and prohibited candidates from campaigning there. The DNC was particularly harsh with the Florida Democratic Party, which was effectively forced to move up its primary date by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Nevertheless, all of the Democratic candidates pledged to abide by their party's rules. Only Hillary Clinton tried to gain an extra advantage by flaunting those rules. In Michigan, Hillary was the only Democrat who did not take her name off the ballot. Even with no other Democrat's name on the ballot, "uncommitted" got almost as many votes as Hillary.

Now, in an effort to break Obama's momentum towards Super Tuesday coming off his more than 2-1 victory in South Carolina on Saturday, Hillary broke the spirit, if not the letter of the Party's rules by jetting into Florida on Sunday.

According to The Orlando Sentinel, "With a wink at the deal, Clinton carefully staged her arrival [in Florida] so she left her airplane with palm trees in the background for photographers. Asked if she was happy to be in Florida, she said, 'How could you not be. It is absolutely glorious. It is a perfect day here in Florida.'" She then attended a fundraiser in Sarasota. Later, Clinton was greeted by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz outside the Lucky Strike Lanes, a bowling ally on South Beach, then spoke for 30 minutes at a $500 per head fundraiser inside the Lucky Strike, before heading to a real estate developer's house for another fundraiser. She also announced that she's returning to Florida for a victory celebration on Tuesday night, as soon as the polls close.

If Clinton wins a substantial victory in the Florida beauty contest, it will be a result, in addition to her suspect campaigning, of her greater fame among Florida voters. Clinton was leading by about 20 points in the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina a month before the contests in those states. Once Obama, Edwards, and the other candidates had a chance to campaign in those states and gave the voters an opportunity to get to know them better, Hillary came in third to Obama and Edwards in Iowa, defeated Obama by 7,000 votes in New Hampshire, won a small victory in the Nevada caucuses but lost to Obama in the delegate count, and was defeated by Obama by more than a 2-1 margin in South Carolina. Any significant victory that Clinton may win in Florida will be sullied by the fact that no other Democratic candidate campaigned there and gave Florida voters a chance to see them up close.

Even more serious, if going into the August Democratic Convention in Denver, the race is still so close that Hillary can only gain the nomination by seating the Michigan and Florida delegates, she will enter the fall race against the Republican nominee as a damaged candidate. Michigan and Florida are key to a Democratic victory in the fall, and the Convention will probably eventually vote to seat their delegates. But if Hillary wins the nomination only because she was the sole Democratic candidate to flaunt the rules, she will dubbed correctly as a candidate who cannot be trusted to keep her word and believes the rules apply to other people, but not to her.

Comments

[detriangulation]

This morning on MSNBC, Clinton surrogate Senator Bill Nelson, as part of a continued effort to hype Clinton's anachronistic FL "victory", highlighted her superior performance across all demographics---with one notable caveat. Nelson concedes Obama decisively won "THE BLACK VOTE" in FL that, looking ahead to Super Tuesday, only gives him marginal and inadequate "POCKETS OF SUPPORT."
This is further evidence that Hillary Clinton continues to rely on her establishment sycophants (including Bill Clinton, with his Jesse Jackson assertions after South Carolina, etc.) to pursue a Southern Strategy: a desperate, futile and shameless attempt to racially polarize the electorate and relegate Obama to the status of a candidate who is for, by, and of African Americans alone. This racial triangulation will continue to backfire because it outrages African American, white, Latino and Asian Democrats alike. Please make people aware of Senator Nelson's comments!!

[TiredofNonsense]

So many wobbly, poorly reinforced accusations against Senator Clinton, so little time.
She understands the critical importance of Florida in the general election. She flew in a couple hours AFTER the primary polls closed, to acknowledge her supporters. It was not fair what happened to individual Democratic voters in Florida--who had no say over the primary date. I think Senator Clinton made the right decision. The only reason some people are bitching about Michigan and Florida is because you're terrified those votes will actually count. This boo hooing about Floridians not getting to "see" Obama or Edwards firsthand is hilarious. All of this is simply a reminder of a key difference between Obama and Hillary -- she thinks long term. She's interested in honoring Florida voters because they are absolutely critical in the end. To whomever the Democratic Party nominates.
Don't worry Obamaites, I'm sure he'll deliver a brilliant speech about it soon and you'll feel better. Until he's in the Whitehouse and his ego and lack of experience make the first Foreign Diplomatic crisis demonstrate that Kenyan roots and growing up in Indonesia simply don't cut it. I hope he doesn't pee his pants like he does when Bill Clinton says "boo." And this guy (with 3 full years in the Senate) is who we're going to match against John McCain? Seriously?

[jhNY]

As I think this entire line of criticism puts the 'nit' in 'nit-picking', I'm not going to get too worked up, but you might have attempted even-handedness had you reported that Obama's media buys put ads for his candidacy on Florida airwaves last week-- despite his pledge not to do so.

Couldn't be helped said his campaign; the cable networks on which they appeared just happened to reach the Sunshine State, as well as the market to which they were specifically directed. Is not this little bit of inside baseball campaign minutia just as important re Florida as Hillary coming in to raise money with palm trees in the background during the photo op?

[john456]

Why shouldn't the Clintons think the rules don't apply to them. NOW destroyed its credibility by throwing all of the sexual harassment allegations against the Clintons out the window to blindly support them. (Not Lewinsky; but Jones, Wiley, Broderick, et al)
Labor and the Unions threw their credibility away after Travelgate (replacing non partisan government workers with their friends and a juicy government contract). So why should the Clintons think this time is any different?

[BTJ]

Thanks for these observations. For the most part, I think the media has under reported the Clinton's lack of principle in this area. It appears to be a key part of their strategy. They will go to what looks like a tight convention and demand that 'the people of Florida and Michigan must be heard' and violate the agreements that all candidates have made with the Democratic leadership.
We need to move beyond Bill's unprincipled 'you do what you gotta do' ethically challenged strategy if we are really going to unite the country and the party to really change the direction of this country.
In contrast, I attended a precinct coordinators meeting in Minneapolis in preparation for the Minnesota caucuses last night. The excellent field organizers, fresh from South Carolina and Nevada, told us 'it's illegal to put up posters and banners on public property outside the caucus location. If the pattern from other states holds, the other campaign will ignore this and maybe take a fine. But in any case, we should not do so. Organize some people to hold signs there.'
I think that's an epiphany of how the campaigns differ and how the candidates approach the process of delivering real change we can believe in.

[sonofloud]

Imagine that, Hillary wants to represent ALL the people, not just the ones the DNC think are important.

[LawHoo97]

The arrogance of Billary... another reason why her negatives are so high and why the Republicans are hoping she wins the nomination.

[feelfree]

Suspect campaigning?

You have not cited a single rule that she has broken.

I could be wrong but there is no rule that says she had to take her name off the Michigan ballot.

Noone forced Edwards and Obama to take their names off the ballot. Instead they encouraged their supporters to vote "uncommitted".

Obama and Edwards can still compete for the uncommitted delegates in Denver.

Don't accuse Mrs. Clinton of being dishonest because she chose a different political strategy.

She hasn't done any local advertising and has not campaigned in Florida or Michigan.

Under the RULES the fundraisers she attended are allowed.

[pkohan]

Good - I hope all that time spent in Florida is for naught, as Obama is out on the trail in states with ACTUAL DELEGATES TO BE WON winning over undecided voters and collecting Superdelegates.

It's a shame the DNC was so petty with Michigan and Florida, but two wrongs don't make a right Billary.