Ignorance Is Not An Excuse
Sinfonian of Blast Off! covers the latest attempt to paper over the mess created by the Democratic National Committee rules in the real world.
I’ve covered some of this before, but let me expand a little.
“A number of people have been lumping Florida and Michigan together because both states moved their primaries and the Democratic National Committee took away all of the delegates from both states. The situations are not the same.”
That is what is known as a fact. The two cases are similar only in that the primary dates occurred before February 5th.
Michigan has a Democratic governor and Democrats control the lower house of the legislature, with the Republicans controlling the upper house. Either party could have stopped the change from taking place, but they both agreed to it.
On the Michigan ballot only Clinton, Dodd, Gravel, and “uncommitted” appeared, as the other candidates withdrew their names.
To summarize Michigan: the Democrats initiated the change of date, and the ballot did not contain all of the viable candidates.
In Florida the Republicans control everything, and the Republicans changed the date. There was nothing the Democratic Party of Florida could do about it.
All eight Democratic candidates appeared on the Florida ballot, and all received votes.
To summarize Florida: the Republicans changed the date on their own, and the ballot contained all of the candidates.
The two situations are not the same, and should not be treated the same.
Ever since the Republicans took over Florida we have had problems with our elections. It would be nice if we got a little help and support with the situation, but that is apparently beyond the ability of the Democratic Party.
6 comments
I think both states could benefit from a do-over. Probably wont happen in Florida because of what you explained. Then again the influence that could be had by such big states going through the process again to have their delegates seated might make some change their mind.
In order to change the rules in Florida you have to have a convention. The party is already holding a convention to select delegates, but they don’t have the money, the facilities or the time to schedule a convention to change the rules, a new vote, and another convention to select national delegates.
The DNC has permitted the Florida Republican Party to disenfranchise the Democratic voters in Florida. They have done nothing to help, or even tried to help until it became clear that there was going to be no “coronation”. They didn’t help us, so I see no one in the Florida Democratic party with any reason to even consider helping the DNC with their pitiful problem, a brokered convention.
Apparently the DNC believes that their rules are sacrosanct, but the Florida Democratic Party can just change theirs on a whim. If the FDP tried it, the case wouldn’t even get to court by November, because the lawsuits are already drawn up in case the executive committee should try to sidestep the rules.
It could get interesting if they hold a convention without Florida and the Republican in charge of the Division of Elections decides that disqualifies the nominee from appearing on the Florida ballot.
The DNC has permitted the Florida Republican Party to disenfranchise the Democratic voters in Florida. They have done nothing to help, or even tried to help until it became clear that there was going to be no “coronation”. They didn’t help us, so I see no one in the Florida Democratic party with any reason to even consider helping the DNC with their pitiful problem, a brokered convention.
yep.
the dnc can either count my vote — which was for edwards — or not, but they’re out of line asking me to reconsider and go a-caucusing at this late date.
The WaPo had an opinion piece on the situation and said they were talking about 150 caucus locations for Florida, while Iowa had 2000. That is not acceptable. I want my vote, also for Edwards, counted. Everyone was on the ballot, Obama was the only candidate who had an ad running that was visible in Florida, let’s just go with the results.
Michigan is a separate problem, and needs a separate solution. The Michigan Democratic Party could have stopped the change, but didn’t.
150?!?!
we’ve got what, 1.7 million registered democrats who turned out last time? and something like 4 million registered democrats all told, i think. that’s a lot of people to fit into only 150 spots.
talk about disenfranchisement.
If only the original 1,734,456 show up, it still means a sliver more than 11,583 people per caucus.
Given the way this race is going, and as close as it is, I think it is highly probable that the candidates will be pushing for greater participation.
If they use the original numbers, Clinton gets 105 delegates, Obama 67, and Edwards 38. Florida represents 10% of the delegates needed to win.
They keep screwing around and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Democratic candidate would need to apply for the Florida general election ballot. The Republicans are in charge, and the DNC had better start paying attention to that fact.