Miami Herald: Poll shows 89% of those polled want their votesCount our votes, Florida Democrats say

[indimuse]

Bump and Update: Miami Herald: Poll shows 89% of those polled want their votes to count.
A new St. Petersburg Times, Bay News 9 and Miami Herald poll finds one in four Florida Democrats may abandon the party if their Jan. 29 votes aren't counted.

Howard Dean and Barack Obama may insist Florida’s Democratic presidential primary was meaningless, but a new poll shows Florida Democrats aren’t buying it, and one in four may not back their party's nominee in November if Florida winds up with no voice in the nomination.

Twice as many Clinton supporters -- 56 percent -- want the Florida primary to count as do Obama supporters -- 27 percent. Still, even among Obama supporters, the idea of counting that primary is slightly more popular than holding a new election or dividing Florida’s delegates evenly between the two candidates.

Key findings:

http://www.miamiherald.com/979/story/461944.html

keeping it simple::

Both names were on the ballot.
Neither campaigned in the state. (Obama ran National TV Ads..)
Both candidates received votes...so there WAS an option!
Hillary WON the most..56%.
SO...56% should be the percentage delegates she receives..This would be fair....

[Guava Jelly]

1. Then they should be really angry at thier state Dem party for breaking the rules

This 'by any means necessary' bullshit is getting old.

[leftofcool]

2. Once again, Florida will decide the election.........

if McCain wins the election, which I suspect he will if Florida Dems feel disenfranchized enough to leave the party, who will get the blame? The people? DNC? The Candidates?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. It's Worse Than Just Losing Florida

It means McCain can win Florida without campaigning or spending any money there...It frees him up to spen that money and time elsewhere...

[leftofcool]

6. Yes and the same thing will happen in Michigan

[kevinmc]

4. Yeah Hillary

[bowens43]

5. cheating is all hillary has left.

of course her supporters see nothing wrong with this, how fucking sad for our party.

[leftofcool]

7. How does this poll of Florida Dems constitute HIllary cheating

This is about Florida Democrats wanting their votes counted

[Medusa]

9. They act like they won't have a vote in the November elections

everyone knew that their votes would NOT count going in. Now they want to bitch? Well bitch at their state, not a particular candidate. They still get a vote and it will very much count come November.

[leftofcool]

14. They will have a vote, alright.........rethuglican

[Birthmark]

20. Enjoy your McCain Presidency.

And that's what you're going to get if the DNC persists in being stupid.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. First

at this point, assigning blame is just useless. This has to be resolved.

Second, their state didn't impose the petty, arbitrary and draconian penalty. The DNC did. Many voters feel their state was RIGHT to try to break the lock Iowa and New Hampshire have. The DNC was intent on keeping the status quo, despite the objections of many voters - and not just in Florida.

A year ago, most DUers would've said they oppose Iowa and New Hampshire's special status. Now because it benefits Obama, people are suddenly adamant that these tiny states get to play such a large role.

[riskpeace]

36. It's ironic that a registered Republican

in a state with an open primary will have a voice in selecting the Democratic nominee, while this registered Democratic voter and contributor to the party will have none.

And it's delusional to think that will not translate into an effect on the November vote in two crucial swing states. The RNC took half the delegates and still kept the contest meaningful. The DNC overplayed their hand and we'll all pay the price.

[Arkansas Granny]

17. Hillary has no control over the fiasco in Florida. My understanding

is that the Republican controlled Florida legislature moved the date of the primary contrary to the schedule set by the DNC knowing that the penalty would be that the Democratic delegates wouldn't be seated. You can find a lot of detailed information here:

http://www.fladems.com/page/content/makeitcount-faqs/#q5

This situation truly is sad for our party, but none of the Democratic candidates were responsible for this mess and neither of the remaining candidates can do anything about this situation outside of offering suggestions for a solution. The final decision rests on the DNC and the Florida legislatures.

[rodeodance]

34. Where is the cheating. You are lying to say that.

[matcom]

8. When is Floriduh going to realize that if they didn't have a beach

they would be Nebraska and nobody would give a shit about them?

I'm sick of that fucked up state

[leftofcool]

11. Fucked up.....yep.... but important in the GE

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. At Least We Didn't Waste A One Hundred Billion Dollars On A Vanity Highway To Nowhere

~

[SoCalDem]

10. Too bad those 89% did not picket in Tallahassee BEFORE

their elected dems gleefully went along with with the republicans in their "cut-to-the-front-of-the-line" maneuver..

Most Floridians either were not paying attention or had the idea that they would "show them".."them" being the DNC..

I SAW the buttons & merchandise they had made.. the ones dissing Dean and bragging about Florida's "size"..and how it mattered..


It mattered more that the rules..

If you took a poll of children sent to their rooms, probably 89% of them would say they preferred playing video games & eating ice cream..

[leftofcool]

13. The Florida Dems had no choice but to go along.........

there were other voting issues attached to the bill that would have hurt the Dems if they had not voted the way they did.

[SoCalDem]

15. They must not have had a very persuasive argument, then

This whole issue smells...

but the seminal fact is still this..

Had HRO not run such an abysmal campaign, she would not have lost 12-straight, and Florida would have been a moot point..

Her campaign chose to blow off the "small states", the "caucus' states..and put all their eggs in the the Super Tuesday Basket..and they got their Easter Basket smashed...

now they are fixated on circumventing rules to try and catch up..

I understand their angst...but rules are still rules..and everyone KNEW the rules..

The ones who bear the MOST "fault" are the democratic leaders in FL.. They should have spent some money, and gone on the air with THIS message:

"We have been officially stripped of delegates, but we plan to FIGHT this, so EVERYONE...GO VOTE... and we'll deal with this down the road..

Instead, all people heard was .."It doesn't count"..

I KNOW that there was record turnout, but there were MANY MANY MANY people who decided to not vote because "IT DIDN'T COUNT"..

It's just another in a long line of "Only in Florida" voting stories..

[leftofcool]

16. It doesn't matter no, in the GE, Florida will go to McCain

and it will decide the election

[Birthmark]

21. Yeah!

I'm sure the Republican Legislature would have listened to Florida's Democrats.

Enjoy the McCain Administration.

[JerseygirlCT]

23. Yes. Exactly! nt

[thunder rising]

12. Wahhhhh wahhhh wahhhhh

[Birthmark]

27. Save that. You'll need it in November. nt

[DemVet]

19. I think we can just write off Florida in the GE. n/t

[Birthmark]

26. That you can

But by writing off FL in the GE, you are conceding the WH to McCain. In the past forty years, only ONCE has a Dem won the WH without winning FL --and that was in the 1992 three-way between Clinton, Bush, and Perot.

Writing off FL is a nearly sure loss for the Democratic Nominee. How the DNC can persist in its stupidity is beyond me. They should just make the best compromise they can.

[DemVet]

32. Agreed.

Writing off Florida is a big mistake, but that's what they(Howard Dean/DNC and the Florida Democratic Party) are doing by not seating the delegates from that state.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. Of course they do - this is a surprise?

The problem, of course, is that their legistature went ahead and scheduled the primary too early. Leaves them stuck, doesn't it?

[LisaL]

24. Hey, ain't it great?

Democrats are gonna write off FL before the election even started, if they don't count the votes.
:sarcasm:

[Birthmark]

28. What percentage of that 89%...

...needs to stay home in November to throw the state to McCain? The answer is, "not very many." I'll be one of them, too.

[NJSecularist]

29. Obama should agree to seat the delegates

He is fighting a losing battle. Period. Florida is a vitally important swing state and we can't afford to give them the cold shoulder.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. Nobody Has Ever Given Me A Satisfactory Reason Why My Vote Shouldn't Count

And blaming it on the Democrats or the Repugs is not a satisfactory reason.

[Independent-Voter]

31. Maybe you dumbasses in Florida should pay closer attention to what your elected officials are doing

instead of bitching about Dean.

[rodeodance]

35. "you dumbasses"---Rude name-calling us not nececessay

Independent-Voter (686 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Mar-19-08 07:47 AM
Response to Original message
31. Maybe you dumbasses in Florida should pay closer attention to what your elected officials are doing

instead of bitching about Dean.

[Romulox]

33. I think the DNC is purposely attempting to realign the party away from traditional constituencies

such as labor, and more toward "new" Democrats (i.e. people who voted Republican in the last few cycles,) many of whom live in the West.

Notice the absolute mania to have 4 tiny and unrepresentative states, which have mostly gone Republican in the last several election cycles be the the "gatekeeper" of the Democratic nomination for President.

Also, notice that Obama hasn't rushed to Michigan post-primary to explain why he supports disenfranchizing voters, even though there is no DNC rule against it...