Hillary Clinton Wants Delegates Heard (especially from Michigan and Florida)
[Guest post by DRJ]
This year Michigan Democrats moved up their primary to January 15 in order to have a greater influence on the selection of the Democratic Presidential nominee. However, under Democratic National Committee rules, only Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina are allowed to hold primaries before February 5.
As a result of this dispute, Democratic candidates Obama, Biden, Richardson, and Edwards withdrew from the Michigan primary and agreed not to campaign in Michigan. Hillary Clinton, Kucinich, Dodd, and Gravel also agreed not to campaign in Michigan but their names remained on the ballot. Those four candidates split the Michigan vote with Hillary as the big winner.
A similar dispute arose in the Florida primary scheduled for January 29.
Now Hillary Clinton has issued a statement urging that the Florida and Michigan delegates should nevertheless be seated at the Democratic Convention so the voices of Michigan and Florida voters will be heard:
“I hear all the time from people in Florida and Michigan that they want their voices heard in selecting the Democratic nominee.
“I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.
“I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this.
“I will of course be following the no-campaigning pledge that I signed, and expect others will as well.”
Hillary’s having a “Me-Me-Me” moment.
— DRJ
…but the fact that tens of millions of Americans are seized with irrational loathing for her…
Irrational? Hillary worked hard for her justly deserved loathing.
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 1/26/2008 @ 1:42 pmThat’s pretty scummy. Each party penalized the state parties that moved up the primaries; the Republicans reduced delegates by half, while the Dems killed ’em off entirely.
It’s done. After this, she says she wants Michigan and Florida delegates appointed *and counted*? Wow!
–JRM
JRM (de6363) — 1/26/2008 @ 2:48 pmCount every vote…
er…
ah…
every “Democratic” vote….especially the ones for her…
Who claims the “uncommitted” votes?
reff (99666d) — 1/26/2008 @ 3:28 pmI have no problem with her asking–the decision to deny all delegates to the line-jumping states was rather arbitrary and stupid anyway–but if Dr. Howie and his Merry Minions at the DNC cave and agree to the change just because she asked for it, they might as well drop their pants and Fed-Ex their testicles directly to Lady MacBubba now to save the rush for later.
M. Scott Eiland (b66190) — 1/26/2008 @ 3:52 pmAsking for advice here.
I am a Democrat.
I live in Florida.
What would you folks suggest I do as the most effective vote againt the Hillary?
1)Vote for Edwards
2)Vote for Obama
3)Vote for one of the others officially on the ballot? (Biden, Dodd, Gravel, Kucinich, Richardson)
I’ll be early voting on Monday, so you have until Sunday night to make suggestions.
kishnevi (cc9936) — 1/26/2008 @ 4:04 pmObama.
DRJ (517d26) — 1/26/2008 @ 4:20 pmIf I cared about what goes on within the Democrat Party, I would just remind them of the “1st Rule of Holes”.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 1/26/2008 @ 6:07 pmKishnevi: YMMV, but i’m voting Obama as the anti-Hillary in California’s primary on 2/5.
aphrael (db0b5a) — 1/26/2008 @ 7:02 pmI truly want to see the Democratic nomination come down to a floor fight over the Florida vote. With any luck, someone will sue and the Supreme Court can select the nominee.
Kevin Murphy (805c5b) — 1/26/2008 @ 8:08 pmDisenfranchisement for thee, but not for me.
JD (fc7319) — 1/26/2008 @ 8:10 pmjeez, she just lost bigger than anyone thought. so now she’s gotta get every other crumb. even it it may not be enuf.
kravitz (70359a) — 1/26/2008 @ 8:54 pmJD: I’m pretty pissed at Hillary about this.
It would be one thing if she had pushed this position publically at the time the DNC was making the decision to exclude the delegates. (I think the DNC was right to exclude them, because if there is no penalty for violating the date rules, the DNC simply can’t prevent the primaries from moving into the preceding year, and that’s not an outcome that’s in anyone’s interest — but if she had an argument to make, and she made it when the decision was under consideration, no harm done).
But to argue that the rules should be changed and Michigan’s votes should be counted *after the election*, when that election featured every other serious candidate withdrawing their name from the ballot because they believed the DNC rules would make the state’s primary not count is underhanded at best. Not to mention sleazy and somewhat unethical.
I won’t commit to voting for the Republican if she’s the nominee, because I don’t yet know who the Republican nominee is and whether or not I could in conscience vote for him. But I’m certainly going to consider it carefully.
aphrael (db0b5a) — 1/26/2008 @ 10:00 pmaphrael – Unfortunately, the DNC and the democratic primary voters – 1) are way less informed and educated than you, 2) do not understand or care about the political machinations behind the scene, and 3) have far less integrity than yourself.
JD (fc7319) — 1/27/2008 @ 2:35 pmMore people voted democratic Florida election than live in New Hampshire. It is a sham to punish the voters.
db (173c69) — 2/3/2008 @ 3:40 pmSenator Clinton’s campaign has chosen to push to change the rules while the Democratic nominating process is already underway.
Her campaign is advocating for the seating of Michigan and Florida delegates after the Democratic National Committee stripped both states of their delegates in response to each state’s decision to move up their primary date.
This is not fair!
Sign the petition to stop her initiative, which will only serve to tear the party apart.
KCG (9e48ff) — 2/7/2008 @ 9:11 amhttp://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Give-Us-Fairness
It seems to me that it is unconstitutional to silence voters’ voices. The state leaders in Michigan and Florida may have made bad choices. However certainly the voters in those states are innocent and entitled to have their vote count as much as any other American citizen.
Pamela Farrell (8c0241) — 2/8/2008 @ 11:37 amI was wondering what had happened to Hillery Clinton. For the last 2 or 3 weeks, Ducacus began making adds on television, “As your president I will–“. I thought for sure Hillery Clinton would make adds on television too. In contrast, she would let the public know what she would do once she became president. I heard nothing, Ducacus’ add was played again and again. He won the latest election and it was all do to these adds that have been playing, reinstating him and making the public more aware of that his going to do when he becomes president. Have Hillery make adds on television too, in contrast to Ducacua.
Louis J. Barrios (56a0a8) — 2/10/2008 @ 7:23 pmTelevision is one of the best ways to make to public more aware of who you are.
Louis J. Barrios