No Do-Over Primary For Michigan Democrats

State Party Committee Officially Decides Against Revote; Fate Of Delegates Unresolved

(AP)  Michigan Democrats officially have declared they won't hold a do-over presidential primary.

Members of the state party's executive committee issued a statement Friday saying "we have concluded that it is not practical" to conduct a party-run primary or caucus as a way to get the state's Democratic National Convention delegates seated.

Michigan and Florida were stripped of their convention delegates for moving up their primaries in defiance of party rules. Florida Democrats already had decided against holding a second primary election.

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton
won the Jan. 15 Michigan primary. Rival Barack Obama had pulled his name from the ballot.

State Democrats now hope the two campaigns can agree on a way to split Michigan's pledged delegates so they can be seated at the Aug. 25-28 convention.

A working group of four top Democrats - U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger and Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell - has been working with the candidates' campaigns and the state and national parties to find a compromise.

"We will continue to work with the working group, the DNC and the candidates to resolve this matter in a manner which is respectful of the views of Democrats in Michigan, and which is fair to those who voted in the January 15th Democratic primary," the executive committee said in its statement.

The 79 members of the executive committee include Gov. Jennifer Granholm as well as other top elected officials, union leaders and party activists. Not all were in on Friday's conference call, but the motion passed without dissent.

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said earlier this week that he was concerned there was not enough time to set up voting sites for an election that could have drawn at least 2 million voters. Any alternative vote would have to be completed by June 10 to be counted under DNC rules.

He also cited concerns about the cost of a second election, which he said could have hit at least $10 million, decreasing party funds.

Friday's vote capped weeks of frenzied negotiations to find a way to hold a do-over Michigan election. There was talk last month of holding a June 3 primary run by the state and paid for by private Democratic donors. But Michigan lawmakers declined to take up a bill setting up that election.

Party officials also considered holding a party-run primary or mail-in election.

The Obama campaign has called for splitting Michigan 128 pledged delegates 50-50, regardless of Clinton's Jan. 15 win. The Clinton campaign so far has rejected that idea. Michigan also has 28 superdelegates, elected officials and other top Democrats who don't have to commit to any candidate before the convention.

[jedi08]

Just split them 50-50. That is the only fair solution. I don''t know why the CLinton people are conplaining, if Obama would of been on the ballot she would of gotten smoked

[bustardo]

Splitting the delegates is tha same as not seating them at all.

The primary process is broken. It only serves the party''s intrests and not those of the electorate of the country in general.

[sistatee-2009]

Time for a do-over revolution.

[barbjc1]

Of course, Obama wants it split 50/50. Are all of you aware Geraldine Ferraro got threatening phone calls from the Obama campaign after the statement she made. Well folks, even Ann Coulter is calling Obama a racist. She said last night on Hannity and Colmes, if you don''t believe her read Obama''s book.
Oh by the way, it also came out last night that Obama said on June 25, 2005, in the Chicago Tribune, he was well aware of the fact his race was a BIG factor in his win to the Senate. YaThink!!!!!

[creeper00]

The state party leadership in both Florida and Michigan shafted Democratic voters by scheduling primaries before the national party said they should.

What most folks don''t realize is that the push for early primaries in those states did not come from Democrats...it came from Republicans. Democratic state leaders bought into it, hook, line and sinker, knowing full well they would be in direct opposition to the national leaders.

Now the voters are disenfranchised by their own party. What a mess!

Oh, and note that our favorite fouled-up-election state of Florida is once again involved in an electoral disaster. What is it about Florida they they can''t seem to hold a valid election?

[pdchapin]

Do a survey of Michigan Democrats and split accordingly. Not perfect but more reflective of how the people feel than a 50/50 split.

[hungry1968]

"No Do-Over Primary For Michigan Democrats
State Party Committee Officially Decides Against Revote; Fate Of Delegates Unresolved"




Oh great. Now we have to listen to all the Hillary supporters whine and cry about how "Obama" won''t let the people of MI vote.

[hungry1968]

The people of Michigan were screwed.

Posted by mnmaid at 03:47 PM : Apr 04, 2008




The people of MI should have complained last year when the DNC was warning the state democratic committee not to play games by moving their date up.

When the DNC TOLD them that they were at risk of losing the delegates, THE PEOPLE that were allegedly "screwed" should have stood up and said something.

The democrats in MI and FL need to seriously look at getting their party officials replaced.

[bobmarisol]

The Dems cant win the general election without Florida. And since many Florida Democrats are now disenfranchised, there is no way Hillary/Obama can defeat McCain.

[hungry1968]

The Dems cant win the general election without Florida. And since many Florida Democrats are now disenfranchised, there is no way Hillary/Obama can defeat McCain.

Posted by bobmarisol at 04:57 PM : Apr 04, 2008





McCain has NO CHANCE of winning.

[jevanswslife]

Florida and Michigan both broke the rules. Let them both suffer the consequences. If it were the other way around, Clinton would NOT advocate reallocating votes or having a recount. Nothing like changing rules after you''ve lost the game, right? Suck it up and get over it. Some people have to win at all costs. Why not honor the initial guidelines EVERYONE agreed to initially? It''s crystal clear. Clinton will not and cannot will the nomination. Stop being a spoiled brat and taking the ball because you don''t want to play any more. The Democratic Party ought to be focusing its efforts on John McCain, not deciding who will be the nominee. Obama is the nominee, like it or not.

[rufisgufis]

Hillary complains that it it "unfair" to the Michigan voters that their "vote won''t count." She tries to blame that on Obama, yet it was her own campaign manager, Harold Ickes, who was on the commission that made the decision that the votes would not count if Michigan moved their primary date up.



It''s interesting that Hillary was "choked up." She wasn''t choked up when she deprecated Dr. King and said credit for the Civil Rights Bill belonged to President Johnson, not Dr. King. She will get "choked up" at the drop of a hat, as well as lie at the drop of a hat.

Hillary was a "Gold Water Girl." She lived in an all-white suburb, went to an all-white school and attended an all-white church. She was 14 years old when King was killed. Her first foray into politics was as a "Goldwater Girl" at the time Goldwater was a leading voice against the Civil Rights Bill.

She will lie at the drop of a hat. See article below referenced by Tucker Carlson

[coco0331]

Michigan voters are just going to have to except the fact that their vote is worthless and their elected officials didn''t care to have their vote counted. So they broke the rules knowing the out come. No reason for exception, its only your most basic right. I think the governor should resign over something this stupid. And Howard Dean too.

[idnnsg]

"The Dems cant win the general election without Florida. And since many Florida Democrats are now disenfranchised, there is no way Hillary/Obama can defeat McCain." - someone who doesn''t understand that a primary is not a general election (no wonder he''s a repug!)

Hey, re.****: They are NOT prevented from voting in the general election. They just can''t seat delegates at the Democratic convention. I doubt that any of them are going to switch to McCain because their ill-advised gambit of moving their primary dates up has failed them.

[hungry1968]

coming from the queen of whiners

Posted by jamesm12341 at 05:24 PM : Apr 04, 2008




Still can''t put together a logical post, I see.

[colvinatch]

Could the Democrats screw this election up any more? This is a TOTAL MESS. Dean should step up and lead or step down.

[oscarez]

What a bunch of Dumb Azz''s we Democrats can be. No wonder we can''t win the general election.

[random_radar]

Last year everyone--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents--agreed that the next president would be a Democrat.

This year it looks like the next president probably won''t be a Democrat. Not because the primary race is close, but rather because the race is going to turn dirty by the convention and someone is going to be alienated and angry.

All it takes for the Republicans to win is for enough Democrats to not vote because they got screwed over. No wonder John McCain is wearing a smile--he knows he has it won no matter who his opponent is.

[irliberal]

Florida. A nasty problem. And now Michigan.

NAMES. I WANT NAMES. I want to know WHO made the decision in Florida and Michigan to break DNC party rules and run their primaries ahead of schedule. Not only did they not have the right, they should be severely punished for causing this problem.

I WANT NAMES! Why is nobody pointing the fingers where they belong? WHO WERE THESE IRRESPONSIBLE AND SELFISH INDIVIDUALS?!?!

[perceptions5]

So I guess that makes it "official".

DEMOCRATS "DON''T COUNT ALL THE VOTES"

Wow! and we''ve always been told by the Democrats and repeated by their close corrupt pals in our liberal wolfpack press that only the "Republicans" didn''t count all the votes.

Well that had been a LIE anyways.............a LIE that was just repeated over and over again.

NOW! when someone says "count all the votes".......ALL Americans can think of the Democrat Party.....................how nice, how true, and how really sad is that?

Where am I wrong?

[popstom1]

what did you expect look who runs MI.

[irliberal]

Where am I wrong?

Posted by perceptions5 at 06:10 PM

You inhale. And you exhale. That''s what you do right.

Everything else is wrong.

[tawpdawg1]

All it takes for the Republicans to win is for enough Democrats to not vote because they got screwed over. No wonder John McCain is wearing a smile--he knows he has it won no matter who his opponent is.

Posted by random_radar at 05:58 PM : Apr 04, 2008

There is a TIDAL WAVE comin'', brother. ALL Americans have been screwed over for 7 long years and we ain''t gonna let it slide. Its time to change the slogan to "YES WE WILL !"

[wanax1-2009]

How can Hillary keep claiming she "wants every vote to count" while also saying that delegates (pledged or super) don''t have to vote in accordance with the way their states voted? Either you respect the vote or you don''t. You can make a case that superdelegates are in a special position to decide on the better candidate without regard for the vote in their district or state but encouraging pledged delegates to switch sides (i.e. ignore the voters) while lamenting that if she withdraws now the voters in the remaining states won''t get to exercise their democratic rights is the height of hypocrisy. Hillary can, maybe even should, stay in the race till June 3rd but by the time the last primary is over the remaining superdelegates should declare their preference. Whoever wins and ends up as the Democratic nominee will need more than 8 weeks to unite the party and concentrate on McCain. Waiting to "resolve" the race until the unusually late convention in August will give the election to McCain.

[bud28dy]

Another nail in the Democrat''s coffin. Apparently both of these morons are dead set on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They both deserve to lose.

[bobmarisol]

The Dems cant win the general election without Florida. And they already got beat big time in Florida in 2004. Now that many Florida Democrats are angry about being disenfranchised, there is no way Hillary/Obama can defeat McCain.

[estabwary]

Don''t count their votes. Voters were under the assumption that their votes would not count when
they voted; candidates were told they would not
count. Those 2 elections were run half-cocked,
so don''t count them. They are worthless elections.
And the voters in those states need to hold the
bozos responsible for cheapening their primary accountable & wasting their money on invalid
elections! Call the ACLU or any other election
body and sue the state in a class-action suit
so it doesn''t happen again. Those 2 elections
were ruined by the states & there is no way to
repair it. Tampering was done, plain & simple.

[dclynette]

Everyone is asking "How could Obama sit in the pew of Trintiy United Church of Christ for twenty years and listen to the rants of Rev. Wright?" Answer: He had to believe or come to believe what Rev. Wright said. How can I be so sure? Cognitive dissonance refers to the psychological discomfort that occurs when how you behave is psychologically incompatable to what you believe. To reduce cognitive dissonce Obama would have to have either "left the church" or "changed his beliefs" to match what the Rev. Wright was saying. Since he did not leave the church he most likely believed Rev. Wright''s teachings when he joined the church or changed his belief system to match Rev. Wright''s beliefs. If he did neither the internal psychological conflict would have been too great to bear and Obama would not have exposed his daughter''s to something that caused him so much psychological discomfort.

The only other possible explanation is that Obama fell prey to Selective Inattention. In that situation a person ignores or avoids percieving that which generates anxiety. I think selective inattention is an unlikely explanation for Obama''s behavior since his contact with Rev. Wright was frequent and long-standing and included both auditory and written input. An explanation of selective inattention would mean Obama has a very defensive ego structure and could not accurately percieve those around him which does not seem the case in other situations.

[slayrre7]

There are two reasons why Michigan and Florida voters are being locked out:

1st) Barack Obama knows there is a good chance Hillary would win both states and therefore decreasing his chances of winning...so...Barack''s supporters are working their ARSES off to make sure a re-vote doesn''t occur in either state.

2nd) The Republicans are blocking a re-vote because they want all swing voters in each state to feel disenfranchised by the Democratic Party and protest their snub by voting for McCain in the General Election.

The difference between Obama and the Republicans...?

The Republicans don''t pretend to be unifiers whereas Barack Obama is interested only in his agenda and making sure his rhetoric about unification carries him over the top.

Luckily for Barack...the media had annointed him as their golden child during the Democratic primaries... thus keeping him from recieving the consisten scrutiny that Hillary has been the target of.

Bush + Bush Obama = 12 years of rhetoric & incompetence

Voting for Barack is paying off the media bias for a job well done AND proving "once again" that style is more important than substance.

[slayrre7]

BYE BYE MS. AMERICAN PIE...DROVE MY CHEVY TO THE LEVY AND VOTED FOR McCAIN...!

Nice jobe DNC...idiots!

[croft777]

The DNC should just give the wins to Hillary, she did win both Michigan and Florida. Obama said to the Michigan supporters that if they wanted to choose him to vote uncommited, same as having his name on the ballot. Obamas name was uncommitted. Neither got to campaigne in Florida, but Hillary still won, its only fair that they give the wins to her. If they try and split the delegates 50-50, there will be alot of pissed off Hillary supporters. Obama didn''t earn it, he didn''t win it, he lost.

[miles1967-2009]

Follow the rules and the punishments which BOTH states were warned about!!!

For all of you right-wing, idiotic sheep posting that this will SOMEHOW impact the democratic race...give it up you morons. See you at the Obama/McCain debates this summer!!! Good luck!

[donbl1]

Why not just run a couple polls in Michigan and Florida and allocate votes according to the polls?

Too easy.

[besscannon-2009]

Yes! IDIOT! Hillary said she wants every vote to count. Better than Obama''s stand, he only wants the votes for hom counted. Hillary is being fair, Obama is being SELFISH and self-serving.

[besscannon-2009]

Hillary is being fair in saying every vote should count. Obama is being unfair and selfish. He wants to be president so bad he can taste it! He has been shaping his life for this for years, planning and conniving. Also, to those that call Hillary dishonest...do you think Obama is telling you the truth? If he did, he wouldn''t get elected with $100 Trillion dollars. That is another thing that should be resented...Obama looks on this election as something he is "buying", and with YOUR money. That
is SAD!!!

[wogerwabbit]

50/50 is fair , so let the superdelegates decide it. Both states surrendered their votes by breaking the rules... how Republican of them.

[estabwary]

How can an election be won fairly or lost if one was not even on the ballot? How can it be won or lost if voters were told it doesn''t count? Neither candidate won or lost either state. THE VOTERS LOST. PERIOD.
Those elections are worthless and belong to neither candidate.

[pollroller1]

Oh well, the democrats just gave the election to John McCain. I guess the Republications will be in for at least another four years.

[jonswift2]

Oh by the way, it also came out last night that Obama said on June 25, 2005, in the Chicago Tribune, he was well aware of the fact his race was a BIG factor in his win to the Senate. YaThink!!!!!

Posted by BarbJC1 at 04:04 PM

Do your research before you shoot off your mouth. Obama''s race was not a factor in winning his Senate seat. His opponent was African-American, so obviously we here in Illinois did not vote on the basis race. You will also note that Allen Keyes, his opponent in that race, was never seriously in his run for the presidency.

[apprxam]

Split the delegates in Denver and let the Democrats kill each other.

[neverkoolaid]

The fact that so many Obama supporters have judged him to be "Black" because of the color of his skin seems incredibly racist and naive,...

Obama is not legally under Federal law considered an African American and will never be the first "African American" president.

Read the research and why the media has silenced it:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/
2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethn
ic.html

[apprxam]

This is Michigan''s State Democratic Party office fault. Unlike Florida, who I still feel is at fault on some level, Granholm and the Dems changed their election date themselves.

[apprxam]

Race is such an unbecoming discussion. No one knows what there are talking about and it''s never philosophical, just political. Not a one yall.

[tasmhs]

The Party leaders of Michigan and Florida are to blame for this. The DNC made it crystal clear to them, well in advance, that moving up their elections would cost them their delegates to the convention.

For Hillary to be crying about this is just one more sign that the end is near for her.

North Carolina is when this whole thing is finally going to end. A decisive Obama victory will mercifully end the Presidential hopes of Hillary Clinton......thank goodness.

Obama v. McCain should be an interesting campaign to say the least.

[kansas1946]

Hillary is being fair in saying every vote should count. Obama is being unfair and selfish. He wants to be president so bad he can taste it! He has been shaping his life for this for years, planning and conniving. Also, to those that call Hillary dishonest...do you think Obama is telling you the truth? If he did, he wouldn''''t get elected with $100 Trillion dollars. That is another thing that should be resented...Obama looks on this election as something he is "buying", and with YOUR money. That
is SAD!!!


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

Posted by besscannon at 09:41 PM : Apr 04, 2008
*********************************

Those states chose to violate the rules of their own party. They were told ahead of time, that if they moved their primaries that the delegates would not be counted. And of course he will be elected with "our" money. We send it to him.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Obama is not legally under Federal law considered an African American and will never be the first "African American" president." Posted by NEVERKOOLAID

This totally irrelevant point was raised by an idiot before in these topic posts, evidence that some people are so stupid that the ethnicity of a candidate is more important than the real issues that threaten the very future of the US.

It doesn''t matter one bit what the ethnicity of a candidate is, our country is in imminent danger of socio-economic collapse, we are dying in wars based on lies, the politicians on both sides of the aisle are so blatantly corrupt that they renew the Blackwater contract to murder Iraqi citizens, the US dollar is in the position of a collapsing currency, the nations very infrastructure is obsolete and less efficient than many developing countries, more and more Americans find it impossible to afford to be able to live in the country of their birth.

And all you offer is a reminder of the ethnicity of one of the candidates, whose father is African, and whose mother is American, and who, unlike another candidate, was born on American land.

The root word of ignorant is ignore.

[markexpat]

Obama being unfair and selfish? WoW! I would have changed the names around. He wasn''t even on the ballot! Does everyone know that? Support is known by both popular vote, delegates as well as fund raising. Obama hasn''t had to run to California for $2,300 plates, or been embarassed with not paying bills. New support, alot of small donations from so many people, this provides a lot of internal personal information for choosing Obama!!

[perceptions5]

So I guess that makes it "official".

DEMOCRATS "DON''T COUNT ALL THE VOTES"

Wow! and we''ve always been told by the Democrats and repeated by their close corrupt pals in our liberal wolfpack press that only the "Republicans" didn''''t count all the votes.

Well that had been a LIE anyways.............a LIE that was just repeated over and over again.

NOW! when someone says "count all the votes".......ALL Americans can think of the Democrat Party.....................how nice, how true, and how really sad is that?

Where am I wrong?

[kesac4650]

Why does the party get to make rules that disenfranchise the people of whole states? This is the party famous for allowing some people to vote more than once, registering the deceased, and insisting that a person should be able to show up anywhere with out and ID to vote.
That isn''t stacking the deck quite enough, though is it?
I was raised in that Party. Jimmy Carter caused me to get out. This fiasco makes me ashamed of it.

[rafterman1]

===Wow! and we''''ve always been told by the Democrats and repeated by their close corrupt pals in our liberal wolfpack press that only the "Republicans" didn''''''''t count all the votes.===
posted by perception5

Typical neocon hypocrisy. The rules were set and the states broke the rules and you criticize Dems for enforcing those rules. Yet you didn''t say "count all the votes" when Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000, did you? You should have demanded the electoral college be ignored if you were really interested in "counting all the votes". But the electoral college wasn''t ignored because those were the rules. Just like Mich and Fla will be ignored because they broke the rules.