I'm FINE with Florida/Michigan giving their delegates a half vote. How about you?

[KittyWampus]

Not so happy that their Super Delegates count at ALL. But will accept it if they are just halved. I will grumble if their votes count in entirety.

It sounds like Michigan will give Uncommitted to Obama although provision will have to be made for Obama to select delegates for that state.

Florida, it sounds like Obama gets his votes plus perhaps those from Edwards and Biden (if they switch to Obama, which they probably would).

[tokenlib]

1. As one of the Obama-Uncommitted voters..it depends if we count...

The SDs in MI deserve to be punished and should not count at all. But cutting the pledged delegates by half would be fine with me.

[SoxFan]

2. No deals, Mr. Bond

Florida and Michigan knew the rules. They knew the consequences. They went ahead and broke the rules anyway. Screw them.

[JamesA1102]

15. And the rules say they lose half their delegates

not all. Restoring half their delegations is a fair solution.

[SoxFan]

21. No, that's not what it says

That's the "mandatory minimum" penalty. The DNC is allowed, at its discretion, to impose a harsher penalty. The DNC made it clear what the consequences would be well in advance.

[havocmom]

3. How are they split? Who do they support?

Still have problems with MI as candidates agreed it wouldn't count, so all but one pulled name from ballot.

And all those voters who didn't go to polls when they knew it would not count? How about them? Have they not be disenfranchised? To only give voters for one candidate a voice is not justice either.

[KittyWampus]

7. Just filled in w/details. Uncommitted=Obama. In Florida, Obama gets his and any delegates that

switch from Edwards or Richardson.

[MilesColtrane]

4. If it goes a way towards soothing some bruised egos, and gets them...

...on board to vote for the nominee in the GE, then I'm all for it.

Any Fla. or MI. super delegates who were involved in the end around of the DNC primary calendar should be permanently stripped of their SD status after this year.

[sellitman]

5. I'm not for changing the rules after the fact.

Especially for Michigan.

Changing the rules to suit the losing candidate is called cheating.

[KittyWampus]

9. Actually, the RULES allow for compromising on the punishment at this point.

I am for striking out a compromise. It will be an imperfect result. But as fair as possible to achieve.

[slinkerwink]

6. I am too. They need to be punished for breaking the DNC rules.

[Kittycat]

8. I am as well, as long as Obama gets some count from the MI Uncommiteds

I would prefer that the MI, and most especially the FL SDs get stripped, though.

[KittyWampus]

11. yeah, I'd grumble about Super Delegates. It's their fault this happened.

[Stop Cornyn]

10. Delegates do more than just vote for the presidential nominee. I say seat them all (or with a 50%

cut in super delegates) but seat them with a relatively neutral voice in the presidential nominee vote (e.g., seat the MI and FL pledged delegates 50% by state preferences -- as according to the vote in FL and the Levin proposal in MI -- and 50% according to the same ratio of the pledged delegates from the other states).

This gives FL and MI a full (or nearly full) delegation and allows them to participate full strength (or nearly full strength) in all the convention activities besides selecting the nominee and it gives FL and MI a voice (but a diminished voice) in the selection of the nominee.

[KittyWampus]

13. Thanks for pointing out my mistake! It's halving the delegate's vote not the delegate

slate.

Gosh, if you read this I really appreciate your catching that.

:hug:

[BzaDem]

12. I agree. If we don't, maybe the Democratic party needs to be punished in the fall in FL and MI.

So then we can finally stop all these bone-headed non-thinking people who repeatedly say "punish them!" without actually thinking about the consequences.

[stillcool]

17. The consequences..

of allowing 2 states out of 50 to get away with fucking with how we select our 'Democratic" nominee is important to me. This is not the republican party where bad behavior is rewarded. Threatening the Democratic National Party with people with-holding their votes, and their money have been being made for almost a year now. Of course most of the noise is from Florida. The last thing the Democratic Party needs is more shit from Florida.

[Orsino]

14. No, I'm not fine with it.

It would have been far preferable for those state parties to have cleared their jumping the gun with their constituents, who might have had something to say about the consequences. In seeking to enhance their influence unfairly, these states have actually reduced it, and voters are paying the price for the state parties' foolishness.

This halfway measure might well ensure no one tries the stunt again, but in the meantime, we're not hearing from FL and MI as we should.

I'm not fine with it, but it seems to be a compromise I can live with. I'm not from MI or FL, though.

[indio55555]

16. Seems fair....

I'm even happy if it's 60% - 40% in Clinton's favor. Just to prove the point that she has no chance.

[KittyWampus]

19. kind of where I"m coming from

[DemsUnited]

18. Understand that a half vote is not the same as cutting the delegation in half.

Per MSNBC Chuck Todd's First Read (using Florida as the example) a .5 vote per delegate = 19 delegate net for Clinton while cutting the entire delegation in half = 6 delegate net for Clinton.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

As for the actual meeting itself, there's one more angle you ought to be aware of: a 50% cut and a halving of the delegates is not the same thing. For instance, if Florida delegates are seated in their entirety, but only have their vote counted as a .5, then Clinton will net approximately 19 delegates out of the state. But if the delegation is cut in half, that's done in every congressional district as well as statewide, then suddenly Clinton's advantage is only a net of six. That's right, the complicated nature of the DNC delegate selection process will be a good reminder to math majors everywhere that a 50% cut is not the same as a halving of an individual number. Go figure...

Note that the RNC cut the MI &FL delegation by 50% as punishment for breaking the RNC rules.

[Orangepeel]

20. that's what's going to happen, so I'll get fine with it. I'll be thrilled if they give supers 0

I think they will seat the supers in full, although I'd be thrilled if they get cut completely and happy if they get 1/2 a vote.

I don't know anything about Michigan, but the Florida appeal asks for 1/2 the pledged delegates and all of the supers restored (because, they say, the rules say the supers "shall" be seated).

The supers from MI and FL will go to the mat for their own votes. I think they'll "compromise" with the pledged delegates that they are partly responsible for selling out in the first place (partly, because the Florida legislature is responsible for the Florida debacle).