Don't blame Florida for the delegate problems....

[Blue State Bandit]

I have the highest respect for my Floridian friends. I've spent a lot of time in Kissimmee, Daytona, and Ebor City. No blame should be sat on the doorsteps of the rank and file Sunshine State voters. They've been through enough ridicule and electoral repression.

It is my hope that Florida can show it's political prowess in the GE with the help of the entire National Democratic Party. But the primaries have been fouled up. If we deny your delegates, Florida is disenfranchised, but if they are counted as they are, the country itself will be disenfranchised.

It's a catch 22, and the only remedy that I see is either a caucus (money and time) or a proportional division using the national popular vote. Beyond that, all I can say is that I am truly sorry for the situation that Florida, as well as Michigan, has found it selves in.

That being said...

This cluster-f@#k is the product of Alcee Hastings and Bill Nelson. Both supported moving up the primary, both knew what the rules were, and both are early endorsers of the Clinton Campaign.

In his speech to the convention, Nelson said the DNC edict violates voting rights of Florida Democrats. He also said it was wrong for candidates to raise money in the state while refusing to publicly campaign at rallies or conventions.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-10-28-democratsflorida_N.htm

It also seems that it was only "wrong" to raise money in his state when it's not "his candidate" raising the money. What's worse, is that it was he and Hastings, who flagrantly disregarded the primary rules, that not only denied Floridians the chance to be a critical stop one the road to Denver, but set the stage for this disaster that disenfranchises not only those who voted in Florida, but the rest of the country as well; the states that played fair.

If Florida had kept the date given, they would probably be the "King/Queen maker on the next Super Tuesday. Now they are the broken cog in the democratic nomination machine.

Nelson said in October last, that our party is making a tactical mistake in refusing to recognize delegates. I say it was his tactical mistake trying to throw off the math set up by Dr. Dean....

or was it?

[Trajan]

1. The state party blew it ....

I do believe a national party needs rules, and that changes to those rules need concurrence with the organization ....

I would like to see the system changed to a rotating state method, where each state moves up the calendar every election, and every state gets 'first' every 50 elections ...

[HereSince1628]

2. As a serf, I always hated knowing the Boyars were meeting...

One of them would ALWAYS get drunk and say something or do something and the first thing you know we serfs were sent off to burn our neigbhors' fields, and rape and pillage their villages... it never got the country anywhere. It took Ivan the Terrible to set it all right.


The politicians have acted just like the freaking Boyars MY interests should be first, NO MINE SHOULD BE FIRST!

And now, NOW it's the freaking serf/voters who are getting hurt AGAIN!

Of course it's all fully justified, ratified and descandalized.

And the Boyars? They've got another Bosses-Gone-Wild drinking party planned.

[killbotfactory]

3. Moving the primary up was a win/win for the Clintons

A big state early in the primary would favor the frontrunner. If the delegates got stripped, people told it wouldn't count, and campaigns denied the ability to campaign there, that would drive down voter participation which favors the frontrunner. After that they can try to get the contest they won without a fair fight to count. I think they planned it this way all along, and why have resisted, and will resist any solution to the problem that doesn't allow Clinton to walk away with the majority of delegates without a fair fight will.

[Not Me]

4. Caucus, re-do, I don't really care anymore.

As of Friday, for the first time in my adult life, I am registered as an Independent.

[Hill_YesWeWill]

5. yes I agree

"the only remedy that I see is either a caucus (money and time) or a proportional division using the national popular vote."

As a Clinton supporter I have to say, I do not want her to win the nomination on florida or michigan delegates as they are divided right now. I certainly want them to be seated, but something needs to be done about how the people of michigan and florida can be represented in the pledged delegate counts.

Obviously, there have not been fair contests in those two states, and the vote results from their two primaries are unusable, by democratic standards