Clinton pledges to seat Mich. delegates despite primary flap

[BeatleBoot]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880125025

Clinton pledges to seat Mich. delegates despite primary flap
January 25, 2008

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said Friday that she wants the Michigan and Florida delegations seated at the Democratic National Convention.

The New York senator will ask delegates pledged to her to support seating the two delegations when the Democrats meet in Denver in August.

“I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan,” she said in a statement released Friday. “I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be president of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.”

Michigan and Florida wanted to have more of an impact on the selecting the political parties’ nominee for president so both states moved their primary dates up — Michigan to Jan. 15 and Florida to Jan. 29. As a result, the Democratic National Committee punished the states by ruling that no delegates from the states would be seated at the national convention. The candidates also pledged not to campaign in either state and none have, with the exception of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who was to formally announce today his withdrawal from the race.

The Republican National Committee also sanctioned the states by ruling that only half the states’ delegates would be seated at their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

Political activists have long said that the eventual nominee would end up seating the states’ delegations, and the Republican candidates have indicated they will do that.

<more>