Florida Democrats Won't Hold Re-Do Primary

(CBS/AP)  Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party.

While the decision by Florida Democrats left the state's 210 delegates in limbo, Democrats in Michigan moved closer to holding another contest on June 3. Legislative leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a privately funded, state-administered do-over primary, The Associated Press learned.

In Florida, a frustrated Democratic Party chairwoman Karen L. Thurman sent a letter announcing the decision.

"A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it's simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the party were to pay for it," Thurman said. "... This doesn't mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again in April."

Members of Florida's congressional delegation unanimously opposed the plan, and Barack Obama expressed concern about the security of a mail-in vote organized so quickly. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign expressed disappointment with Florida's decision.

"Today's announcement brings us no closer to counting the votes of the nearly 1.7 million people who voted in January," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. "We hope the Obama campaign shares our belief that Florida's voters must be counted and cannot be disenfranchised."

Obama's campaign said it looked forward to an agreement on what to do about Florida.

"We hope that all parties can agree on a fair seating of the Florida delegates so that Florida can participate in the Democratic Convention, and we look forward to working with the Florida Democratic Party and competing vigorously in the state so that Barack Obama can put Florida back into the Democratic column in November," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor

The national party punished Michigan and Florida for holding primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates to the party's national convention this summer in Denver. All the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in the states, and Obama did not appear on Michigan's ballot.

Clinton won both primaries. As the race with Obama has tightened, she has argued the delegates should be seated or new primaries held.

"The decision not to re-vote keeps the state's Democratic delegates in limbo," said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "It is hard to see them being seated solely based on the results of the January vote anytime before the convention and just as difficult to think they would be divided equally between the two candidates. This would appear to be a blow to the Clinton campaign which needs to find a way to make up deficits in both the pledged delegate count and the popular vote."

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who backs Clinton, has suggested one alternative - seating all Florida delegates already chosen but only giving them half a vote each. Nelson discussed this idea with Clinton and Obama on the Senate floor last week. Based on the Jan. 29 results, Clinton would have won 105, Obama 67 and John Edwards 13. Instead they would get half those delegate votes.

"We will continue to work with both Florida and Michigan to come to a solution that's fair and within the rules," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Stacie Paxton.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the congressional delegation is talking with the DNC and both campaigns to find another solution to seating Florida's delegates, including an idea that would take into account the January vote among other factors.

The draft Michigan legislation included language that would approve spending privately raised funds for the election, according to a Democratic leader who spoke on condition of anonymity because lawmakers and the campaigns are still considering the proposal.

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[bretster7]

LINY516 said,
The right wing and Hillary monsters'''' swiftboat tactics won''''t work this time.


Yeah that''s right. The right wing made the Rev Wright make all those racist hate filled sermons for the last 20 years. Must be some kind of neocon mind control. The wrong Reverand Wright swiftboated himself with his biggoted, racist hatrid: fool

[deemsnyd]

You wont hear much of this in the NY Times or NBC.

A little over one year ago:

1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon
3) the unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we''ve
seen:

1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) the cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3 a
gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in
equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);

5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2
trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.


America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!

[blondbeotch]

jwind11### These people get nuttier every day!!! It''s kind of amusing--or scary--I don''t know which is worse.

[cmurray48]

I''m am so disappointed in the National Democratic Party. All they had to do was to realize in the beginning that the Florida Democrats had nothing to do with this decision to move the date, and therefore should not be "punished" like little kids for "disobeying" the rules. Sheesh.

I happen to live in a state that is currently being run by Republicans. Isn''t that punishment enough?? Personally, I agreed with the decision to change the date, but I would have moved it to Super Tuesday where our votes still would have counted. I am sick and tired of never having a say in who gets the nod, because by the time it trickled down to Florida, the decision had already been made. Every time.

I am really so sick of this nonsense that I''m switching my party after this election. I''m going to register Independent. This is the first election in many a year that I haven''t contributed to the Democratic Party. I never will again. As usual, I won''t have any say in who gets to represent me. Only this time I can thank the bonehead national party and our bonehead republican legislature. Well, thanks, but no thanks. I''ve had enough.
Just sign me disgusted in Florida.

[jwind11]

dumbshi - er - un, I know you don''''t like it, by Grandpa McPTSD isn''''t going to be President. Request Denied.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by FloydZepp at 04:36 AM : Mar 18, 2008

with people as moronic as floydzepp, we wonder what is wrong with this country? look at above post as example

[jwind11]

You find those WMD''''s yet?

No?

Keep looking.


lol!





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by singingrick at 09:58 AM : Mar 18, 2008

check this loser lib out, having a conversation with himself... lol

[kofiananimus]

A re-vote was the only fair solution to the problem. The people of Florida should oust every single elected official who broke the rules and pushed the elections forward and who gave up on the re-election because it was "too hard". Florida, your elected officials are making you look stupid.

[sparkler1066]

nice to think that Florida voters don''t count, Obama should really like that.

[jockh]

If Hillary can loan 5 million dollars to her campaign then surely the voters have a right to know the source of her funding.

Why wont Hillary release her tax returns? People with nothing to hide don''t usually hide.
The main excuse we''ve gotten so far is that Hillary Clinton just has too much on her plate. "I''m a little busy right now," she said during the Ohio debate. "I hardly have time to sleep. But I will certainly work toward releasing, and we will get that done and in the public domain."
That was three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, Howard Wolfson promised the returns would be released "on or around April 15." But weren''t the returns completed and filed a long time ago? Doesn''t Clinton''s accountant have time to print them out and make some copies (note to Clinton''s accountant: many Kinko''s are open 24 hours).

In short, it''s well past time for Hillary Clinton to be as "vetted" as she claims to already be -- and to have this vetting done now by Democratic voters rather than later by GOP hit squads. She needs to live up to the standard she laid out for Rick Lazio, the opponent in her 2000 Senate race. At that time, she said it was "frankly disturbing" that Lazio was holding back on releasing his tax returns and she even sent a staffer dressed as Uncle Sam to taunt him during campaign stops.
What a difference eight years -- and tens of millions of dollars (some of them from questionable deals) -- can make.

[william19491]

JERsupporter 8:48 am Great response to Mc(Vet)??
He is a hate monger!