Category — Florida

Almost everyone has been fixated on the contest for the nomination and are missing the point of the process – the election in November. People are running around playing games with no concern about how those games will play out in November when the truly important vote takes place, and this has been truly bad for the prospects of a Democratic President unless John McCain has a total meltdown.

Lambert points to the work of Anglachelg and her post on fun with the electoral college. She comes to the same conclusion as EBW of Wampum at did about the four key states [Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida] and use the maps at 270 to Win [a great resource, BTW] to run various scenarios. It does not look good.

Over at The Real Spiel there is a general overview of what things are looking like, and what the problems are, and has a pointer to River Daughter, who fact checks a lot of the claims being tossed around in her post, Have you actually read the rules?

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I Told you This Was Coming

A short bit on the Republicans keeping the Democratic nominee off the ballot.

Heartfelt Thanks to Mary Beth

Mary Beth’s stories on this issue.

All Politics Is Local

The story of how and why the date was changed.

Let’s Enforce The Rules

The actual rules of the party, and how they weren’t enforced.

Why Am I Angry?

And my latest post on the Florida Party’s efforts to resolve the issue.

Before you question what has happened, make the effort to inform yourself on the issue because arrogance and ignorance are not appealing qualities when the purpose is supposedly to win elections. Alienating the voters in a state with 27 electoral votes is not a good political move.

The Republicans control 65% of both houses of the state legislature. The governor is a Republican. The legislative session is 60 days in March and April. A special session would have to be called by the governor or the leader of one of the houses, all Republicans.

In her Party Statement on Primary Situation, Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman, Chair of the Florida Democratic Party, adds some details on how nasty the Republicans were in this, including doing it with Bill 537. For those not familiar with Florida, that was the “official” number of votes that separated Al Gore and the Shrubbery in the 2000 election.

She notes:

Our Democratic legislators in Tallahassee tried to set the Florida primary on Feb. 5, instead of Jan. 29, but of course, their proposed amendment to House Bill 537 was greeted with laughter and derision from the Republicans who control the state government.

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Why don’t Florida progressives adopt a new motto to express their opinion? Something that will fit on a bumper sticker and can be chanted at gatherings, a rallying cry:

No Vote In Denver = No Vote In November

Just a thought, after I learned at Corrente that Kos thinks it’s nice that Florida and Michigan are willing to take one for the team.

I have no idea what “team” he is referring to, unless it’s the one that just cut Florida and Michigan from their “roster” .

CNN reports on the first of what will probably be many law suits: Attorney: DNC violates Constitution

Atlanta (CNN) — The Democratic National Committee is violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by allowing only four states to hold caucuses or primaries before the first Tuesday in February, a Florida attorney argued Monday before a federal appeals court.

Attorney Michael Steinberg filed suit in August on behalf of Democratic Party activist Vincent Dimaio.

The suit came after the DNC said it would not seat Florida delegates at the national convention because the state party defied party rules and scheduled its primary for January 29.

A federal judge in Florida dismissed the lawsuit in October, but Dimaio appealed.

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The BBC reports: Florida ditches new primary plan

Supporters of Mr Obama had opposed re-staging the primary.

Mr Obama expressed concern over whether a Florida postal vote could be held with fairness and accuracy if it was organised at such short notice. But had said his campaign would “abide by whatever the DNC decides”.

Mrs Clinton had called for the primary to be run again or the January results honoured.

The DNC had said it would not support the plan unless both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton backed it.

So no vote is much fairer than any vote that might help someone other than himself according to Mr. Obama.

Should Mr. Obama win the nomination, I wouldn’t suggest he come to Florida – he won’t be welcome. I would also suggest that the title of this post reflects the attitude of many progressives in the state with regard to the national party, and wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the current Democrats become independents to keep their seats.

The donkey has become a jackass.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

That is attributed to Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neal, Jr. a Democratic Speaker of the House, who said it was a saying of his father, Thomas P. O’Neal, Sr.

Political ranters who fail to recognize the wisdom of that statement have been blathering all over about what happened with the Florida primary, while demonstrating to all and sundry that they don’t have the first clue about why the date for the Florida primary was changed.

Here’s something most people miss about that election: 4,239,350 people cast ballots on January 29 in the election, 3,658,802 votes were cast for the Democratic and Republican candidates for President.

Wait a minute, you say, why vote in that election if you weren’t going to vote for a Presidential candidate, it was the Presidential primary? The other 473,885 voters who were not qualified to vote in the closed Florida primaries were casting ballots in the real reason for changing the date – Amendment 1 to the Florida constitution to change the property tax laws, giving the Republicans something to talk about in Florida elections in 2008.

Look at the numbers: 97.5% of the voters voted on Amendment 1; only 86.3% voted in the Presidential primary. What was the purpose of the election? What was the important issue in the election?

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“Why are people in Michigan and Florida so angry? They knew what the rules were before they changed their primary dates, so why are they so angry?”

Among many other things, the rules were changed on the fly by the DNC.

Go read the DNC Primary Rules, the ones the leaders of the Democratic parties in Michigan and Florida agreed to, from a New Hampshire Democrat.

Based on the rules, the Democratic officials in Michigan expected to lose 50% of their pledged delegates and all of their superdelegates – that’s what the rule [Rule 20.C.1.a.] says will happen to states that violate the rule [Rule 11.A] on scheduling primaries and caucuses.

That is not what happened. The rules, as written and agreed to, were not followed.

Five states [Michigan, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina] violated Rule 11.A by scheduling primaries and caucuses earlier than allowed, but only two were punished, and those two lost all of their pledged delegates. No superdelegates lost their votes. This is not according to the rules.

When an unelected group within the Democratic National Committee can arbitrarily decide what rules will be enforced and what the penalty will be, rather than enforcing the rules equally, against all violators, and handing out equal penalties the process is corrupt.

This problem can be easily resolved to the satisfaction of everyone – enforce the rules. All five states should lose half their pledged delegates and all of their superdelegates, just like the rules require.

The concept is called “equal justice under the law” where democratic principles guide government action. Some people think it’s important.

It’s time to acknowledge the hard work and concern of someone who is not a Floridian, but who has consistently supported our right to have our votes counted in this election: Mary Beth of Wampum. Best known for the Koufax Awards and covering Native American issues, she has stood with us to attempt to bring some democracy to our situation and has taken the trouble to actually be informed on the issue.

If you would like to inform yourself about what this is all about, how it started, and how it is progressing:

From the Florida Dems FAQ… is a quick overview of how the primary date was changed.

Sharpton supports disenfranchising Florida voters… is an example of one candidate’s surrogate going against a lifetime of principle for possible political gain.

This is wrong on so many levels… Roland Martin, another surrogate on CNN with another call for disenfranchisement.

Electoral college math… shows the effect of Florida on the November election for Democrats. Short version: Florida has 10% of the electoral votes needed to win the Presidency.

Think Florida Democrats… shows people that the Democrats can forget Florida if they don’t get this right. I would add that the referenced poll was among the Democrats who voted in the January primary, which makes them the more committed of party members. If a quarter of the most committed won’t vote in November, they also won’t man phone banks, won’t walk neighborhoods, won’t volunteer.

I’m already gone and won’t be back to the Democratic Party. I’m not a “good Christian” – I neither forgive nor forget.

The Associated Press says Florida mail-in primary plan gains traction, which apparently means that politicians, pundits, and VSP are talking about it on TV. What isn’t clear is if this is legal in Florida and Michigan.

In general a private group can make and enforce whatever rules it wants to as long as it stays out of the public. Once it becomes part of the public arena, or it starts applying for privileges from the government, it must obey applicable law.

There are major laws, both state and federal, when it comes to elections, and I don’t hear any legal analysis of what is being proposed. I do know that anyone can challenge a Democrat being on the ballot for President in Florida if the Florida delegates aren’t seated at the nominating convention, I’m not saying the challenge would win, but the basis for the challenge exists in the law. What hasn’t been tested or discussed is the status of the individual nominated if the Florida delegation at the convention is not selected based on the state’s primary election. Running around gathering cash for a mail-in primary is going to be a major waste of time if the vote isn’t “legal”.

Maybe someone, like the Florida Democratic party, should look into this before things go any further.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Via McClatchy in DC, Marc Caputo of the Miami Herald notes in his article, Crist: State should oversee revote:

…But Republican House rules chairman David Rivera said he likes the idea of a mail election if the Democrats pay for it. Meanwhile, he has asked the House elections committee to research a bill that would ban the Democratic nominee from the Florida ballot if the national party refuses to seat the state’s delegates.

State Senate Republican leader Dan Webster came up with the idea, but said he’s not wedded to it.

When I said this people thought I was kidding, but they haven’t dealt with the Florida Republican Party of JEB and Katherine Harris. The primary date was changed to get Amendment 1 passed and to screw the Democrats in Florida. Thanks to the DNC, they succeeded.

The sixty days of madness that is the annual session of the Florida legislature has begun. If you aren’t a corporate lobbyist you must live in fear and trepidation of the “sausage” that gets produced.

Thanks to the recession, the burst housing bubble, the collapsed tourism market, and the weather and disease related problems in agriculture, they are starting out with a projected $3.5 billion shortfall. I’m guessing that the real number that will be reported near the end of the session is more in the $5 to $6 billion range. Anything that is not directly related to a business lobbyist is up for slashing, as most of these clowns are running for office in the Fall.

Naturally the rest of the planet will be entertained by the “family values” bills that attempt to incorporate evangelical doctrine into the laws of Florida and new tax cuts to prove how “fiscally responsible” these clowns are. It is going to be another disaster so keep your head down if you live in the Sunshine State.