DNC not backing down on FL and MI delegates.

madfloridian

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Fri Feb-15-08 12:01 PM
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DNC not backing down on FL and MI delegates.

Here is a statement from a DNC spokesperson, making it clear that there are only two options for those states at this point.

DNC refuses to back down Michigan, Florida delegates

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton desperately wants meaningless wins in Florida and Michigan to turn into votes she can count on. It won't be easy with the Democratic National Committee rules standing in her way. The DNC is refusing to back down from the tough sanctions it imposed on the two states, which held early contests in violation of party rules. They have been stripped of all their delegates to the national convention in August where either Clinton or rival Barack Obama will be nominated for president.

The DNC has offered Florida and Michigan a couple ways out in compliance with party rules. First, they could hold second nominating contests, but Democratic leaders in both states reject that idea. Or they can appeal to the DNC's credentials committee, a 186-member body that usually operates in obscurity and has a complicated membership and rules process that will require deft maneuvering in this divided campaign.

More about the committee.

Clinton's operatives want DNC chairman Howard Dean to come up with a resolution, but Dean is staying out of the fight for now. Dean spokesman Karen Finney said Florida and Michigan still have a choice to follow the rules.

"At this point, there are still more than 1,000 pledged delegates to be determined and 33 percent of our party has yet to have the opportunity to have their voices heard, so it would be premature to speculate," Finney said. Dean declined an interview request. Most of the credentials committee members will be appointed by the Clinton and Obama campaigns, depending on how they perform in nominating contests across the country, with Dean having already named 25. Although Obama has won more contests so far, Clinton has won most of the larger states -- and larger states get more seats. So there's the potential for the committee to be closely divided if the race stays tight.

I think the DNC is planning on being very fair, as fair as they can be under such circumstances. Two big states deliberately and noisily broke the rules, even though there was a Supreme Court precedent saying the DNC has the upper hand on this issue.

Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin..1981

"The State has a substantial interest in the manner in which its elections are conducted, and the National Party has a substantial interest in the manner in which the delegates to its National Convention are selected. But these interests are not incompatible, and to the limited extent they clash in this case, both interests can be preserved. The National Party rules do not forbid Wisconsin to conduct an open primary. But if Wisconsin does open its primary, it cannot require that Wisconsin delegates to the National Party Convention vote there in accordance with the primary results, if to do so would violate Party rules. Since the Wisconsin Supreme Court has declared that the National Party cannot disqualify delegates who are bound to vote in accordance with the results of the Wisconsin open primary, its judgment is reversed.

It is so ordered."

Howard Dean publicly offered his opinion about the role of the superdelegates and the DNC itself. It went pretty much unnoticed because of the blathering of Chris Matthews who said in that interview that he was trying to trip Dean up...to get him to say stuff he was not supposed to say. He kept interrupting Dean so it was hard to hear what Dean was really saying.

He appeared to be issuing an opinion for others to wait and let the voters finish having their say.

Dean said let the voters speak first.

I mean, let‘s listen to the voters before we—you know, on television everybody handicaps everything. I‘ve sort of given up watching television in between these elections because people blab and blab and blab. But the fact is, the voters—it‘s the voters‘ turn.

....."DEAN: It‘s not the pundits‘ turn. It‘s not the pollsters‘ turn. This is the voters‘ turn. This last month-and-a-half and this next two or three months coming up, this is the voters‘ turn. It‘s time for us to shut up and listen to the voters, and that‘s what I‘m going to do.

And there have to be rules. A culture of Democracy can not flourish without rules.

I think the superdelegates and the DNC committees will be fair.