Will Florida, Mich. Delegates Be Seated?

With No Clear Winner In Delegate Tally, Democratic Party Tries To Resolve Uncounted Primaries Before Denver

(CBS)  With the race between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama close and unlikely to gain either of them a clear majority of delegates before the Democratic Party's convention this summer, the determining factors may be the fate of delegates from the Florida and Michigan primaries - delegates which have been excluded, so far.

Now representatives from each state are in talks with party leaders to come to a solution, in the hopes of avoiding a meltdown and a fractured party going into (and coming out of) Denver.

Gov. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said he thought it was "very unlikely" that Florida and Michigan delegations would be seated at the national convention without some concessions.

“I think it's very unlikely that Florida and Michigan, given how close this race is, are going to be seated as-is," he told Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer. "But everybody's going to work very hard to find a compromise within the rules that's fair to both campaigns that will allow Florida and Michigan in the end to be seated.”

Dean stressed that, in light of talk of a "do-over" of the vote in those two states, the party will not foot the bill should it come to states holding a new primary election.

“The Democratic National Committee is not going to pay for it because, right now, our job is to tell the American people about Senator McCain's record on Iraq and the deficits and so forth, and convince the American people that our nominee is better than Senator McCain. And that's what we're going to be using our resources for.”

Dean hoped that the issue could be resolved sooner rather than later, as the dispute has the potential of being damaging to the ultimate victor. “We don’t think knock-down, drag-out fights are ever good between Democrats," he said. “We'd much prefer to have this all settled well before we get to the convention, if that can happen.”

Also on the program, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., talked about the importance of coming to a resolution to the delegate dispute in Flordia and Michigan, without resorting to a re-writing of the rules.

Nelson, a supporter of Hillary Clinton, said if the DNC will not seat Florida's delegates from the January 29 primary, "then the only thing I know to do is to do it over." He suggested a new election (possibly a mail-in vote) would cost $6 million, which the Florida Democratic Party would have to raise themselves.

Kerry, who has been campaigning for Obama, said the Illinois Senator would accept whatever deal is reached between the states and the party: “Let's go forward. Let's get this done in a way that allows Michigan and Florida to be at the convention, brings the party together, unites it - which is what his candidacy is about - and resolve this issue fairly.”

Later in the program, Democratic strategist and CBS News consultant Joe Trippi and Republican strategist Howard Rollins talked about the debate over delegate sin Florida and Michigan and its potential to unite or shatter the party.

"I think you have to be very careful when you alienate voters, particularly in your base," Rollins said.

"You know, my sense is that the Republican side was like a NASCAR race in which the front-runners kind of get knocked back and forth, and, obviously, John McCain survived. The Democrat race is kind of like a Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazer fight - they're pounding each other, round by round. And it's pretty fascinating to watch.

"At the end of the day, I expect the party to be unified again, and John McCain to be a very strong candidate. And it will be a very close election."

Trippi was more cautious about the dangers a protracted primary battle would pose for the ultimate nominee, saying that when you have a big fight, the other team wins: "In 1980, when Senator Kennedy went after President Jimmy Carter, we went into that convention, the Democratic side, with a fight on our hands. And Reagan won [the general election].

"Democrats cannot go into this convention fighting. I think we've got to have this settled."

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Read the full "Face the Nation" transcript here.

[fettkonserv]

Why bother? They''re Republicons who needs them.

[byeneocons]

Where the he// is Jeb Bush when you need another Florida election fixed?

[iamthequeen-]

If everyone says we should play by the rules with FL and MI then the same should be true with the superdelegates. Why do they have to vote with their constituents when the party gave them a vote of their own. Obama can''t have it both ways but nice try.

[katg21]

Wow, such a long post and you said absolutely nothing.
Posted by singingrick

Nothing you or any other dem is willing to hear b/c of your stupidity. You don''t even realize that your party leaders think you''re stupid. They know that you will NEVER question anything they do; you''ll just blindly vote for them.

[darrren12000]

um, why the stupid arguments about giving half the delegates to each candidate? that''s real smart. same result as giving each candidate zero delegates. what would that accomplish?

[darrren12000]

qa -- you could have saved a lot of space in your post if you just said "go-bama"

[darrren12000]

only the dems could make a 15 million dollar decision that is unfair to almost 3 million voters.

[mdk2dude]

To allow the Michigan and Florida represenatives to be counted at the convention they should give half the votes to Obama and half to Clinton. That was the delegation is seated and no one has an advantage.

[jaycal33]

Obama is CORRUPT, his slogan of change an ILLUSION.

1) A houseowner wants to sell both a house and adjoining land. Obama can afford to buy only the house. No problem, the criminal Rezko to the rescue. Rezko pays full price for the land, whereas Obama gets a discount of $300,000 on the house. Nice to have criminal friends like this!!! (reference ABC News)

2) Exelon Corporation had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants in Illinois. Obama, a senator for Illinois introduces a bill to make disclosures mandatory. Seems like Exelon doesn''t like it. Each draft of the new bill by Obama goes more and more towards Exelon till disclosures end up being "voluntary". What gives? How about $250,000+ donations by Exelon to Obama''s campaigns!!! Obama is not change, he is WASHINGTON BUSINESS AS USUAL. (reference New York Times)

People need to stop believing their fantasies about Obama and realize that Hillary is the one who has been fighting for them all along. All the way back to 1993 when she tried to introduce universal health care (before it became politically fashionable).

[machiavelliw]

The overarching point of this article is that the Dems will lose in November. All this infighting over Clinton v. Obama will leave the party at a major a disadvantage in the general election because the eventual nominee will have only about two months to assuage the bruised feelings of their opponent''s supporters, while simultaneously trying to do battle with John McCain and the Republicans. So let''s just all get used to the idea of President McCain shall we?

[singingrick]

katg21

Wow, such a long post and you said absolutely nothing. How do you do it?


lol!

[popstom1]

After Gore there is no way they have too redo Fl. Mi.
the republican moved the Fl. election Howard pull
your head out of your A$$ and get it done

[arr967]

This wasn''t even an issue until Hillary, and her surrogate CNN made it an issue. The Senior Correspondant cautioned CNN on this quite some time ago and rightly so. CNN projected Senator Clinton to win Iowa, and she lost it. They then projected Senator Obama to win New Hampshire, and he lost. The correspondant for the Washington Post told "The Best Political Team" in news as CNN would put it to stop "Predicting the News and stick to Reporting it." Now they''ve taken it a step further. Now they want to "Be the News" instead of reporting it, but htis time they have clearly stepped over the line. Bloggers are having a field day with this and to be quite candid so am I.
CNN ran an internet article titled "Dems should have seen this coming" yesterday. Well I''m sorry for my ignorance but I never thought a news cast would tell me how to think or determine who the next President was going to be. I thought "The People" decided that. Silly me.

[katg21]

Who authorized the primaries in Forida and Michigan knowing it was against DNC rules? And why?Posted by tibu987

Exactly! Howard Dean and the DNC and Florida authorized the primaries and you are right to ask why. The RNC'' punishment was that only half of the states delegates would count. Why is it not the same for the DNC? The dems believe their base to be the biggest idiots. They actually expect you to re-do the primaries? You all complain about the economy and deficit yet it''s okay to re-do a primary that will cost in excess of 25 mil because the DNC''s chosen one needs the delegates? Come on people, wake up already! The DNC doesn''t want Obama to win the nomination, plain and simple.

[katg21]

They want to change their own rules after the game starts.Posted by kerick913

Bingo. Dems will try to find a way around all rules, even their own. Sneaky ***. I say what''s done is done, no going back. The DNC (Dean & McCullough) hand picked Clinton as the candidate, never expecting Obama to be any kind of a challenge. It''s so laughable! Now that there''s a chance that their chosen one won''t win they want to change their own rules. If I were Obama and his supporters I would be very suspect. Allowing Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated only benefits Hillary. Don''t be fooled, this was the plan all along. For what other reason would Hillary keep her name on the Michigan ballot? She has Howard Dean, the DNC and the super delegates by the short and curlies. She will be the Dem candidate. Poor Obama.

[qa2008-2009]

I am not the brightest person when it comes to all of this stuff, so could someone please explain to me why it even mattered when Fla, and Mich held their primaries?
I know there has been a long standing order, but does it really matter?
I consider myself a Democrat, maybe not a liberal, but for the most part a Democrat, but I do feel by having a "do over" is not the right thing to do no matter how it is done.
The leaders of the state party were told what would happen if they did, and that should be it.
The real losers in my opinion are the people that took the time to go to the polls knowing their votes would not count, and now the possibly having no say in the process, yet still tried to do what they felt was right.
I do not feel the delegates should be seated, and let the state party leaders explain to the people of these states why they took the actions they did.
I also hope the super delegates listen to what the people of America are saying and not just go with whom they are now pledged.

[samthetvcat]

That slickster Gov. Crist needs to start thinking about how it''s going to look if he is taking every position that benefits Clinton with regards to this Florida primary debacle, and Obama still prevails, wins the nomination, wins the general election, becomes President, is successful at it, and then comes up for re-election in 2012.

Because if Crist is hoping to challenge him, he''ll be running as the guy who directly took on Obama and his popularity and LOST.

[tibu987]

Who authorized the primaries in Forida and Michigan knowing it was against DNC rules? And why?
I smell something here that is not right. Is this some underhanded method that somewhow will influence the campaign results?
I do not trust the Clintons one iota, they are capable of sleazy, under-the-table doings. They may be calling in some of their political chits.
Can anyone tell me why this happened?
What was gained by having the primaries early?

[samthetvcat]

''%u201CThe Hussein Dynamic%u201D at http://savagepolitics.com''
Posted by elsylee28

Oh, it just occurred to me that the GOP are also going to have a field day with Hillary''s other base of support - recent immigrants (apparently gratitude for Bill Clinton''s immigration policies in the 90''s) who''s voting block is often referred to by the ''msm'' as the ''latino'' vote and the ''Asian'' vote . . .

[elsylee28]

of course they will be seated.

BTW I found a fantastic article...A MUST read for EVERYONE

%u201CThe Hussein Dynamic%u201D at http://savagepolitics.com.

Brilliant writing that goes beyond what the MSM is feeding us!!!!