Levin and Dingell attack NH and DNC again.. Intend to take the fight to convention.

[madfloridian]

Actually there is some stretching of truth here.

New Hampshire Cheated, Too

By Carl Levin and Debbie Dingell.

In 2006, the Democratic National Committee adopted a rule providing that four states — Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina — could hold their presidential primary or caucus in January, with the rest of the states following. The rule dictated that the early states hold their contests in a specific order — with New Hampshire coming third — and no earlier than designated dates between Jan. 14 and Jan. 29.

While Michigan Democrats were disappointed that our state was not selected for one of the four early contests, we appreciated the new rule for adding a bit of much-needed diversity to the early nominating process, and as a first step toward breaking the Iowa-New Hampshire lock. We announced that we would abide by the new calendar provided that other states did the same.

But last August, the New Hampshire secretary of state indicated he was going to schedule his state’s primary before the date specified, clearly defying the sequence and timing the party had set. Michigan Democratic leaders repeatedly asked the Democratic National Committee if it intended to penalize New Hampshire for this violation, but the committee refused to act.

Rather than allow this broken system to persist, we challenged it by deciding to apportion our delegates according to the results of a primary scheduled by the Michigan Legislature for Jan. 15.

New Hampshire gets to go first by state law, and the two bully states were already planning this. NH knew it, the DNC knew it.

Actually Michigan had been threatening to move up ahead of NH for a long time. This had gone on for ages.

Senator Threatens to Make Michigan First

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) threatened "to hold Michigan’s presidential nominating contest on the same day as the New Hampshire primary in order to end New Hampshire’s 'cockamamie' first-in-the nation role," The Politico reports.

"While Michigan recently passed a law saying it would hold its primary on Jan. 15 -- causing New Hampshire to say it would go no later than Jan. 8 -- Levin said Michigan Democrats now could hold a caucus and move up to the same day as New Hampshire."

Meanwhile, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner continues to say he is "prepared to keep New Hampshire first and once again raised the possibility he could hold the primary in December of this year... Gardner has the ability to beat other states to the punch because, over the years, he has learned how to hold his primaries very quickly."

This has been not only a battle to make the DNC irrelevant, but to damage the four states who were chosen by party rules to go first...two new ones added this year.

The Michigan Democratic chair even declared Iowa to be the partner in crime of the DNC

That is to undermine the party and its structure. Even Terry McAuliffe threatened Levin that Michigan delegates would not near Boston in 2004.

No one got upset at all with Terry. He by his own words yelled at Levin. He was not even criticized.

Dean is enforcing the rules, yet there have been lawsuits filed, he has been condemned, the media is out in force now to discredit him. Posters are hitting forums to say what a bad guy he is. They know that by hurting Dean they will stop his goals for the party.

One campaign is following the rules, the other has her own shadow DNC which means she does not the party to run her campaign.

The two states could come clean that is was their fault, not the DNC's fault. They could stop using the media and the bloggers to spread doubt about the chairman.

But they won't do it. It does not fit the purpose of win at all cost.

[democrattotheend]

1. Michigan and Florida did not even submit plans

To be selected to go early. They just decided to flout the DNC. And you are absolutely right about this being an attempt to undermine Dean.

I still think we need to do something about seating the delegates from Michigan and Florida though, if we want to avoid a mess in the general election.

[madfloridian]

2. I think MI submitted a plan, but were not included.

Levin's hatred of NH is palpable. Do a search on his name and that state. He despises them.

[KellyW]

4. The fact remains

NH went early and out of turn, but they got a pass...

[madfloridian]

9. NH went early because MI was saying they would butt ahead.

See what I mean? We will implode with all the lies and spin.

[yewberry]

10. The NH story isa little different than the article claims, though.

The MI Dem party began calling for NH to be sanctioned for moving its primary date in August...but NH didn't move its date until mid-November. Levin knows it and Dingell knows it; they're counting on rank-and-file Democrats to not know it.

NH moved its primary date only as a result of the other states' (particularly MI) leapfrogging.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. New Hampshire's state law requires them to go first, so

so if another state moves their primary up, NH has to move theirs up,
in order to be in compliance with their own law.

NH gets on my nerves, but that is the way it is.

[madfloridian]

16. Yes, Levin is not being honest. MI moved before NH did. Revisionist history

[suston96]

3. The states playing musical chairs with their primary dates means shit!

The Democratic Party Charter says every Democrat must be allowed to participate in the primaries and each vote must count. Screwing the members for the whims of the state and national party leaders is bullshit.

The entire Democratic party will pay for this serious trashing of individual voting rights guaranteed by the Democratic Party Charter.

[ingac70]

5. I say seat the pledged, cut the SD's from FL. and MI out...

from what I've seen Obama is still ahead even with those delegates factored in.

[Demeter]

6. The Levin and Dingell Families Have Exhausted My Patience

and goddess knows, I didn't have much to begin with.

They are destroying America as much as the BFEE is.

[JimboDem]

7. Seat Their Delegates and

UnSeat their superdelegates.:evilgrin:

[JeffR]

8. Once again

thank you for all your hard work at trying to get the truth out here. You're a treasure. You come as close as anyone could to making me proud to be a Floridian.

[fadedrose]

11. These foolish politians

They look so dumb after the faux primary that they have nothing to lose by making a big fight in order to appear to be in the right.

I used to like Carl Levin so much. What a disappointment he has become. I think the Hillary people brainwashed him.

He voted against the war . . .

[AZ Criminal JD]

12. Why does NH get to go first?

You say: "New Hampshire gets to go first by state law, and the two bully states were already planning this. NH knew it, the DNC knew it." What makes New Hampshire "state law" more important than the state laws that were passed by Michigan and Florida? They have no more rights than anyone else. I am glad this is going to the Convention. Dean and DNC will have to answer for this extortion by NH.

[madfloridian]

14. Ask NH. I don't care. There is no extortion. I despise these half-truths.

Make a fuss and push for change after the election.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. another reason Fl and MI shouldn't go first - helps the richest candidates

One reason the DNC likes small states to go first is to give ALL candidates a
chance in the primary.

If Michigan and Florida went first, then candidates like Edwards wouldn't have
the financial resources to campaign there so soon in the primary.

They would possibly gain support if they had the opportunity to run in small
states where it takes less money to run.

But Florida and Michigan deliberately wanted to break the system,
and now they have less impact.

If they held their elections in March, they would have alot of positive attention
focused on them now, instead of being so negative.

[madfloridian]

17. Hillary heading to MI to push revote.

They are going to have an all out push to make Obama look bad for not wanting one.

They and the state of FL will rip this party apart.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/POLITICS01/803190445

"Top Michigan Democrats were scrambling Tuesday night to save a proposed do-over primary in the face of opposition from backers of Sen. Barack Obama. And Sen. Hillary Clinton announced a campaign stop in Detroit this morning, where she was expected to turn up the heat on Obama to accept a new vote.

Clinton will speak at 10 a.m. at the Detroit offices of the AFSCME government employees union, her campaign announced late Tuesday, ending a day of fast-moving events.

Top Democrats in the state Senate, including Obama's co-chair, said Tuesday they saw little chance of a new June vote to replace the disputed January primary. The four-member panel of party leaders that proposed the deal held contentious discussions with Obama's campaign. And aides to Clinton accused Obama of trying to disenfranchise voters from Michigan and Florida, two states whose role in this summer's Democratic National Convention now are in serious doubt."

[madfloridian]

18. Hillary's MI co-chair admits the revote won't make much difference.

So why would she be pushing so hard and going to MI and getting on TV to blame Obama? So she can prolong the campaign as long as possible, even if she can not win it.

That way they make Obama look like the bad guy. They can put the blame on him, and prolong the attacks.

I felt more confident when the DNC was saying you can't change the rules in the middle of the primary. Now they are all waffling.

Is it the lawsuits making them wary? Is it the way the media is still portraying Hillary as viable? What happened to the courage of their convictions?

Hillary co-chair, Blanchard, says "Revote Probably Wouldn't Affect The Race Much

One of Hillary's most important supporters in Michigan, former Governor Jim Blanchard, went way off message in a conversation with me moments ago, saying that even if a revote were held in the state, it would likely be so close that it wouldn't make much of a material difference in the delegate count.

"I think if we had a vote in Michigan, it could easily be close," Blanchard told me. "The amount of delegates wouldn't make much difference."

Blanchard's claim is significant, since the Hillary campaign points to a revote in Michigan as one of their key routes towards closing the delegate gap.

Blanchard made the comments in the context of a conversation about the Obama camp's posture towards a revote, suggesting that the Obama campaign's hesitancy over it was surprising, since (in his estimation) it probably wouldn't affect the race's overall outcome that much.

Blanchard also made something of an inflammatory accusation, saying that Obama's two Michigan co-chairs -- state senators Tupac Hunter and Buzz Thomas -- were deliberately slowing the progress of the revote in the Michigan legislature at the direction of Obama national headquarters.

I call this the scorched earth campaign..if you can't win it leave no one standing.

;(