Huffington Post: Florida Suggests Half Vote Solution To Settle Democratic Party Squabble

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ron-levitt/florida-suggests-half-vot_b_91752.html

Posted March 16, 2008 | 12:28 PM (EST)

Appealing for Solomon-like decision making, Florida's Democratic leadership is asking that 50 percent of its elected delegate strength be seated as a means of breaking the impasse and saving millions of dollars in a re-vote which has little support from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.

The newest face-saving proposal was sent by "over-the-weekend mail" to the Democratic National Committee as a way out of the dilemma facing the party caused when Florida held a rules-breaking election one week ahead of schedule.

Indications are that Sen. Hillary Clinton - who won the Jan. 29 Florida primary - would agree to the "50 percent proposal", but spokespersons for Sen. Barack Obama still are asking for a caucus.

"When a 'Violation of Timing' occurs by a state party, the number of pledged delegates shall be reduced by fifty percent (50%)," veteran DNC member Jon Ausman of Tallahassee reminded the party's Credential Committee in an appeal by mail. He explained Florida could still get 210 delegates but each would only get l/2 of a vote. He also asked that Florida's elected officials - superdelegates - be seated.

"I am respectfully requesting that these two challenges and/or appeals regarding Florida's delegates and alternates be scheduled before the next Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting for consideration and review," Ausman said, apparently with the backing of a number of Sunshine State officials. A spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson, the state's leading Democrat called the 1⁄2 vote suggestion..."an idea...not necessarily a proposal."

The documents were sent by Ausman to the co-Chairman of the Credentials Committee James Roosevelt, with e-mails explaining the appeal being forwarded to Democratic leaders all over the State. Ausman and Janee Murphy, Secretary of theFlorida Democratic Party, said they expected to go before the Committee at its meeting on April 14.

FULL story at link.

[GarbagemanLB]

1. How will the popular vote be counted, then?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. Half.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Superdelegates should only get half a vote also. They are the ones that screwed up.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Half it is.

[OhioBlue]

13. Super delegates shouldn't get any vote

as you said, they are the ones that screwed it up.

I could understand seating FL at 50%, but I would not understand giving the supers a vote. FL went against party rules. The FL party leaders should be held accountable.

[Pirate Smile]

25. I hate that they give themselves a full vote and split the voters delegates.

But I know they wont agree to not getting their full votes so I guess that is necessary for any deal. Jerks.

[TheDoorbellRang]

29. I agree. NO vote for the stinky supers. n/t

[nsd]

8. Delegates are what matter.

The "popular vote" isn't a formal measure used for anything in particular. It's more of a talking point than anything else.

[Drachasor]

15. Count the popular vote in full -- It won't make a difference

Obama is still going to win the Popular vote.

[joshcryer]

16. Exactly. Both need superdelegates to win. I don't see why they shouldn't be seated.

It's assinine.

[IsItJustMe]

33. Doesn't matter. It's about the delegates. Always has been.

[democrattotheend]

39. There is no official popular vote count

That's just something RealClearPolitics computes for interest. There is no Democratic Party certification of a national popular vote or anything. Some superdelegates might use it as a guide, but they will decide for themselves how to factor in Michigan and Florida.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. If we can have half the Chimp vote back...

:think:

[madfloridian]

4. Florida will never give up.

They will pout and whine and cry and stamp their feet.

:nopity: :nopity:

[Warren Stupidity]

5. 3/5 would be more ironic. nt.

[Kittycat]

7. Split it 50 Clinton/50 Obama - no Supers, and move on.

[OhioBlue]

14. that sounds like a fair compromise. n/t

[MercutioATC]

19. What's the difference between doing that and not seating them at all?

[Kittycat]

21. They get delegates at the convention

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

22. This is a political party, not a travel agency

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

23. .

[MercutioATC]

34. So what? The delegates don't represent anything

If they simply split the delegates 50/50, the delegates don't represent the voters and make no real difference to the counts anyway.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

27. why Obama only got 36% in Fl...why should he get 50%?

[annie1]

28. 1/2 the number of dels he would have gotten, or half of the pop. that voted for him.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

30. but "half the pop" did NOT vote for him....36% did

[annie1]

31. he would still get 36%. so if they formerly had 200 dels, he would get 36% of 100 dels instead of...

36% of 200.

[annie1]

32. oh sorry, i though you were referring to the original post, not the...

50/50 obama/clinton split. what a corny idea. i agree with you, sorry i misread what you were responding to. :D. Apologies.

[Zhade]

37. And Clinton campaigned there the night before, against the rules.

NT!

[juajen]

41. Bullshit. They're already halfing the number of delegates; they

should at least reflect who won this primary, and the percentages of the candidates should be followed. I believe it was the FL Dem Party that were the culprits and I don't remember how many super delegates FL has and who they are. Could someone list them.

Hillary won these votes fair and square, and I really believe they should be seated as the vote indicates. I still believe that the FL dem party should pay a fine for disobeying party rules, and the voters should not be punished for something they couldn't help.

I hope the Convention will address some of these problems, such as why three small states should be representative of the whole country, and the problem of manipulation of our primary vote for nefarious purposes because of open caucuses and primaries, and on and on and on. I sure there are many more problems that need attention, like a refusal of the democrats to participate in elections that use electron voting machines and central tabulators, for one instance.

We have so much to discuss and the FL and MI votes are only one of those.

If you Obama supporters are so certain of your plethora of votes, delegates and super delegates, why are you so worried about Hillary getting the votes she earned in FL and MI?

[jaysunb]

9. Rules are rules...

An Obama win in Virginia & Nevada will negate anything that happens in Florida, and he'll win Michigan regardless..

[dansolo]

11. This may be the best solution.

I don't like it, but it may be the only option for FL. However, I don't think that the FL superdelegates should get a vote.

[DJ13]

12. Thats not a good solution, but if the SD's arent allowed to vote it would be OK

It still gives Clinton more than she deserves, but if the Florida super delegates (the same people responsible for this mess) arent allowed to count it would be a reasonable compromise.

One thing that we all need to consider is that the Clinton campaign is now trying to say the national total votes "express the will of the people", so she's no longer concerned about the actual pledged delegates she moght get from Florida, she wants the Florida vote count to be rolled into her national total so she can try to convince the SD's at the convention that she's deserving of the nomination.

I dont believe the Florida vote totals should be included by the DNC, as part of the punishment for moving their primary.

[joshcryer]

17. Superdelegates are going to consider FL and MI regardless as to their seating status.

In fact, if Obama fights to not allow them to be seated in one form or another that will be another consideration.

[gear_head]

18. does Obama have the votes, in the eventuality of a floor fight...

at the national convention,
to evict these Florida delegates?

[madfloridian]

20. There were no delegates to begin with. FL was sanctioned.

So why all of a sudden are they there? Why now are we taking Bill Nelson's suggestion...he's a Clinton superdelegate.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

24. The existing vote cannot be the basis of anything... that's just nuts

[ElsewheresDaughter]

26. fuck that....my family members are WHOLE people why should they be made half of a person?

[MercutioATC]

35. Have them call their DEMOCRATIC legislators who made this happen.

If we allow FL and MI to get away with breaking the rules, what's to stop everybody from completely disregarding the process?

Remember, primary voting isn't a national election/representation issue. It's a poll completely governed by the RNC or DNC. There are no such things as "voter's rights" in a primary.

[Road Scholar]

38. When your family members break the Democratic party rules

then they should suffer the consequences too.Fuck that.

[anigbrowl]

36. This a fairly reasonable compromise

The DNC has called FL's bluff and Florida has basically admitted it has a weak hand. So now it's down to a question of whether it's fair to Clinton and Obama. Now, clinton had big name recognition, and it didn't hurt that she jetted into Florida on the monday before the vote, even though it was for a private event rather than a rally - she still got some free local press coverage and sent a message to voters.

On the other hand, Obama can afford to lose a few delegates, and realistically a good many of the Edwards delegates from FL would switch their vote to him, if Iowa is any guide. With the state delegates reduced to 1/2 votes as a compromise, Clinton probably nets only 10-15 delegates. I'd say it might be a good idea for Obama to be gracious and give her the freebie in order to put it behind them.

[Johnny__Motown]

40. PLAGERISM... I suggested this 4-5 days ago.but I think SDs should be 1/2 also

and I suggested the same for Michigan too, although we/they may re-vote in MI.

[Hippo_Tron]

44. Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, they should re-vote

[Forkboy]

42. I say let's do it, and quickly. This makes us look pathetic.

:mad:

[Hippo_Tron]

43. That's what I would've done in the first place if I were Dean

There had to be a punishment or the DNC would have no credibility and every state could move their primary up to August of 2007 if they wanted. On the other hand, completely invalidating Michigan and Florida's delegates has been problematic.

The Republicans did this and it worked out well for them.

[madfloridian]

45. Why are so many thinking that is fair? They had no delegates.

They still don't have any delegates.