DNC Chairman Dean pressures '08 hopefuls on Florida

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: August 31, 2007
Parties pressure '08 hopefuls on Florida


DNC Chairman Howard Dean is trying to maintain control of the primary calendar

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The chairman of the Democratic National Committee has sent a message to the field of 2008 Democratic presidential candidates: follow the rules. In a letter sent to candidates Friday, Gov. Howard Dean called on his party’s White House hopefuls to support a DNC decision to strip the state of Florida of its say in the nomination process if it proceeds with plans to hold its presidential primary on January 29, eight days earlier than party rules allow.

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee ruled in a meeting in Washington last Saturday that Florida Democrats would lose all of their delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver unless they modified their primary plans within 30 days.

"My goal as chairman, and our objective as a party, is to structure a nominating process that adheres to rules that are clear, straightforward and published. The vast majority of states have complied with these rules," wrote Dean. "As leader of the Democratic Party, I strongly urge you to adhere to the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules."

Dean went on to describe Florida’s current plan for a January 29 primary and defended the committee’s need to maintain the party’s presidential nomination rules. I strongly urge you to do your part and support the actions of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. The RBC did one thing on Saturday: enforce the Party’s rules," he said in closing....

Also on Friday, the four states allowed by the DNC to hold their nominating contests before February 5 — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina — asked the Democratic field to sign a pledge not to campaign or compete in Florida if it violates party rules. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have each signed the pledge as of Friday afternoon.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/31/dean-urges-%e2%80%9908-hopefuls-to-follow-party-rules/

[rateyes]

1. Good for Dean....

:kick: and R

[fightthegoodfightnow]

2. Shame on Clinton and Obama

Shame on Clinton and Obama

[flpoljunkie]

6. Obama has signed the pledge.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

12. Cool........Shame on Clinton

Cool........Shame on Clinton

[Yukari Yakumo]

22. Clinton signed the pledge too. (Though I wonder why she took so long to do it.) {nt}

uguu

[jmp]

3. On one hand you have ...

A letter from our Dear Leader ... on the other you have the 44 electoral votes of Florida & Michigan.

Boy that's a tough one. :eyes:

Hopefully Florida & Michigan get together and gang up on Iowa, NH, SC & Nevada ... then we can see how much clout those states have.

[Vincardog]

18. IT is not Electoral votes it is just the NOMINATION. Florida had its' chance to be the only

early southern state to vote early. They turned it down.

Now the GOT lead state wants to be early anyway. Well rulz is rulz.

I think this is a GOP ploy to divide and confuse the Democratic voters.

[Yukari Yakumo]

23. False.

The GOP are cracking down on the states that are jumping the gun as well.

[knitter4democracy]

4. What about Michigan?

Are we banned too, now? I don't really understand this whole thing, frankly, but I know that we're trying to be more important in the election, as is Florida. Michigan and Florida represent the nation, demographically, better than NH and Iowa. Why should they determine who our nominee is?

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, I think so.

I was surprised Brewer caved in like he did.

Good for the DNC.

They all voted for the rules. Levin and McAuliffe made a deal for Terry to appoint the committee that made the rules.

This is all planned to break the back of the DNC and keep the power until the nominee is chosen.

[flpoljunkie]

9. I think you are on to something, mad. They knew the rules, and chose to flout them.

[knitter4democracy]

15. If they're against Dean, I'm not interested.

Dean's our chairman. Period. If they want to have meetings and fix things, then do it. Don't go against the chairman when it's already set.

Our county party is messing around with stuff like that. They're trying to endorse candidates for the primary, which Dean has said not to do. I'm sick of their crap and need to start going to meetings again and asking questions.

[cali]

10. The lie that it's only IA and NH

It's not. It's a quartet: Iowa, Nevada, NH and S. Carolinan. If states want to change that, the time to work on it was right after the '04 elections or right after next year's elections, not 14 months before '08.

[knitter4democracy]

14. I agree that it's too darn late.

I think for most Michiganders, it's become a pride thing, never a good idea when political sanity is needed.

[janx]

5. Finally, some sanity in this situation. n/t

[Adelante]

8. Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Obama, Edwards

Good on them :toast:

[madfloridian]

11. Some more explanations...the DNC gets to decide delegates.

My anger is because my state lied and said they fought the DNC on this. Florida knew that if they fought for the rules against the GOP their delegates would not have been taken away. But they lied and sent around emails that Dean was stealing their votes.

They asked people to stop donations to the party. Talk about being selfish?

Propaganda war

Here is the DNC statement about the delegates:

"Florida has the right to determine its primary date. However, the Supreme Court determined more than 25 years ago that the Democratic Party has the legal right to establish the rules by which they select and seat delegates to the National Convention. We continue to hope that Florida will do the right thing and come up with a plan that's in compliance with the rules the DNC and its members from Florida voted for," said DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton."

And here is a good explanation from MyDD.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/3/27/12055/9191

"It is also almost certainly an attempt to stick it to Howard Dean of the DNC, whose new primary calendar finally allows minorities such as Latinos, African-Americans and union members to have a say in determining the next president, which is an anathema to Florida’s elites who have done everything in their power over the past decade to make sure that those groups are not even allowed to vote. The move is also a huge boon to the frontrunning campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have tremendous advantages in Florida. If Florida is on January 29th, it will be extremely difficult to see a path for any other candidate as long as Clinton or Giuliani manage to come within a close second in New Hampshire. As I type this, that is a criteria both candidates meet quite easily."

[knitter4democracy]

13. Interesting.

I didn't know that part. If they're against Dean, I don't want any part of it.

[madfloridian]

16. In the post I meant to say they had to show they fought the GOP

and they did not. They went along with them and laughed their own amendments about Feb. 5 off the floor. Kind of sad, really.

Too late to edit, but that is what I meant.

There are rules that say that Democrats who are in a Republican controlled state can keep delegates if they fight hard for changes.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Chairman Dean calls for the cavalry to save his ass!

Are the TV cameras going to show the empty chairs where the Florida and Michigan delegations would have sat on the Denver convention floor?

Having been shunned by a candidate, how will Michigan and Florida welcome that candidate were he to become the nominee?

I've heard that Hillary has yet to sign Chairman Dean's "loyalty oath." Instead of joining the "Obey Dean Brigade," Hillary has been calling on the parties to sit together and work out a compromise. A most sensible and wise approach, IMHO! Perhaps I have been too harsh on Hillary in the past, and I may need to reevaluate things.

[Vincardog]

19. WTF? Why should the Democratic party sit down with the Greedy Old Perverts

to work out a compromise on OUR primary rule? This is another reason I do not trust HRC or her DLC enablers.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

21. Your hatred is showing, IG. What has Dean done to you?

Just because he did not go third party? Or what?