dreamcastrocks

After stating last week that he did not think that Florida/Michigan should be reseated, he has a change of opinion.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/...imary_scramble


Dean urges do-over voting in Fla., Mich.


WASHINGTON - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged Florida and Michigan party officials to come up with plans to repeat their presidential nominating contests so that their delegates can be counted.


"All they have to do is come before us with rules that fit into what they agreed to a year and a half ago, and then they'll be seated," Dean said during a round of interviews Thursday on network and cable TV news programs.

The two state parties will have to find the funds to pay for new contests without help from the national party, Dean said.

"We can't afford to do that. That's not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race," he said.

Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count in the epic Democratic campaign.

The Michigan governor, top officials in Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign, and Florida's state party chair all are now saying they would consider holding a sort of do-over contest by June. That's a change from the previous insistence from officials in both states that the primaries they held in January should determine how their delegates are allocated.

Clinton won both contests, but the results were meaningless because the elections violated national party rules.

The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of all delegates for holding the primaries too early, and all Democratic candidates — including Clinton and rival Barack Obama — agreed not to campaign in either state. Obama's name wasn't even on the Michigan ballot.

Florida and Michigan moved up their dates to protest the party's decision to allow Iowa and New Hampshire to go first, followed by South Carolina and Nevada, giving them a disproportionate influence on the presidential selection process.

But no one predicted the race would still be very close at this point in the year.

"The rules were set a year and a half ago," Dean said. "Florida and Michigan voted for them, then decided that they didn't need to abide by the rules. Well, when you are in a contest you do need to abide by the rules. Everybody has to play by the rules out of respect for both campaigns and the other 48 states."

Hey Mr. Dean, how can you abide by the rules to have a primary on a specific date, if that date has already passed?

Shane H

This is going to be fun watching the Dems tear each other apart over the couple of months. You cant pay for drama like this. ITS FRICKEN GREAT!

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“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin

Linderbee

I'd be fine with this. If they want to have a do-over, that's fine. Obama would be campaigning in those states & it would be much more fair.

The thread title makes it sound as though Dean wants the delegates to count as-is, which I am adamantly against.

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dreamcastrocks--My Hero!!

Shane H

I 100% agree with that. The fact that these sanction were brought against the states is beyond ludicrous to begin with. The Democratic citizens in those states ABSOLUTELY HAVE A RIGHT to have their votes count in this election and every election.

They shouldnt be penalized because some of the higher ups decided to change a fricken date.

Its beyond stupid.

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“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin

dreamcastrocks

I'm torn.

Technically in the rules, the primary dates can be after Feb 5th, and before the convention. So they could redo the states, and still be within the "rules".

I think that it greatly favors Clinton vs. Obama though.

Shane H

But the right thing to do. Honestly!

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“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin

dreamcastrocks

If we have a brokered convention, then yes. I agree.

I'd rather we redo these states if it will prevent a brokered convention.

Pariah

When people vote in primaries, is it tax dollars that pays for things like the voting machines and polling stations? Or, does the party pay for everything?

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America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.

Linderbee

I'm not at all upset that their votes don't count. Those states voted for the rules as they are. Then those states decided that they didn't have to follow the rules that THEY VOTED FOR. If I were a citizen of one of those states, hell yes, I'd be pissed, and I'd be taking it out come election day for whatever officials were responsible.

I don't think it would affect the outcome that much. I know Obama isn't popular in Michigan/Detroit, but she hasn't been killing him much of anywhere. Given enough time to campaign properly, I think he could come out of those states without losing much, if any, ground.

I just don't think it's going to happen. I don't think either state is going to pony up the dough to make it happen.

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dreamcastrocks--My Hero!!

Linderbee

According to the article, the states would have to come up with the money--the party would not be willing to fund it.

edit: the state parties would have to fund, not the national party. Not sure entirely how that works.

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dreamcastrocks--My Hero!!

dreamcastrocks

I don't think that Hillary will be able to claim much of a delegate advantage. There are a total of 341 from Florida/Michigan. Even if Hillary wins both states by 10%, Hillary will get about 188 delegates to 153. Even with that 35 delegates swing, most people don't think that will be enough to overtake Obama. Who knows what happens to the superdelegates if she wins both states though. Their opinion might change. I'm not sure if Obama will have enough delegates to gain the 2025 needed, even with the included 153 from Florida/Michigan. It is pretty clear that Hillary won't have enough either.

82CardsGrad

The Dems have literally blown an amazing, historical opportunity... A black man and a women are "this" close to the White House. It should be a celebrated and memorialized affair... Instead, they come up with some whacky, non-populist Super Delegate structure (yes, I know this was actually created decades ago), that in and of itself can destroy the party. They then construct a set of rules and their party represenatives in two states choose to ignore the rules, leading to the great FLA-MI crises we now see playing out today...

The Democratic Party...the party that was supposed to bring faith and trust back to American politics, is literally on the brink of creating more dysfunction and more distrust than anything the Republicans have done over the last 20 years!! Incredible...

earthsci

I don't understand. How is Howard Dean "urging" a do-over or how is does he "want to count Florida/Michigan"? What I read was Dean saying - if they want their delegates to count they are welcome to have a do over which abides by the rules. The Democratic National party WILL NOT fund those do-overs. Those are the rules, they agreed to them, they will live with them.

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Linderbee

I think that's a stretch...

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dreamcastrocks--My Hero!!

dreamcastrocks

I didn't write the article....just posted it.