Clinton Weighs In On Re-Vote

From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:

WASHINGTON – As the Democrats try to figure out whether to allow voters in Michigan and Florida to re-vote in their primaries, Hillary Clinton said she preferred the states keep their current vote tally. "It's striking that we had two elections where the votes in Florida were of great importance,” she said. “1.7 million Floridians turned out to vote. They clearly believed their votes would count. And I think there has to be a way to make them count."

It’s not surprising Clinton would want Florida to keep their votes – she won Florida handily, a state where Barack Obama did not campaign, in accordance with Democratic Party rules. She also won Michigan, after Obama pulled his name off the ballot there, again because of party rules.

The problem for Clinton is that there is discussion of holding caucuses instead of primaries for the re-vote. She has expressed her dislike for the caucus process throughout this election, pointing out that the limited voting window leaves some would-be voters out of the process. Clinton also doesn’t do well in caucuses, only winning one of the 12 caucus states so far. "I think that it would be a grave disservice to the voters of Florida and Michigan to adopt any process that would disenfranchise anyone,” she said. “Therefore I am still committed to seating their delegations, and I know they're working with the Democratic Party to determine how best to proceed."

The Clinton campaign also took also took aim at Obama today, comparing his tactics of criticizing them to those of Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose investigation led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment. "I, for one, do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president,” said campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson. “But perhaps that theory will be tested."

The Obama campaign responded by calling the accusation “absurd.” "We don't believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr tactics, but the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and that's been missing in Washington for far too long," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "And if Senator Clinton doesn't think that the Republicans will ask these very same questions, then she's not as ready to go toe-to-toe with John McCain as she claims."

Clinton was also asked about comments McCain made where he called Obama "inexperienced," Clinton dodged the question saying, "Look, I have said that Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference."