Democrats May Drag Out Fight; Decision Time on Florida, Michigan Votes
By Kenneth R. Bazinet and Michael McAuliff
Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Now it's the referees who are getting ready to rumble.
More than 33 million voters judged the epic Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama slugfest for the Democratic presidential nomination.
This weekend, a pack of just 30 party officials will decide how to count a couple million more votes that could keep Clinton's campaign alive.
Even stranger, most of the referees also play for the warring teams.
The stage is set for a clash as contentious and drama-filled as the five-month campaign.
Tickets available to the public for the Saturday showdown at a Washington Marriott hotel near the National Zoo were all snatched up within one minute.
In dispute are the votes cast in January by Democrats in Michigan and Florida, where Clinton did well. As of now, the votes don't count because the states broke party rules and held primaries before Feb. 5.
"There are approximately 2.5million reasons to count Florida and Michigan and they are the voters who turned out in record numbers in those primaries," said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. "They have the right to be included in this process and we think their voices will be heard when all is said and done."
It's a crucial battle because if all the votes are counted the way Clinton wants, it makes it much harder for Obama to wrap up the nomination before the Democratic convention in August.
The Obama camp has signaled it's willing to give her slightly more than 50% of the delegates from the two states - but that's all.
So the two camps are waging a bareknuckle blitz to woo a majority of the 28 voting members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee.
"That's part of the process. Everybody is trying to feel each other out," said undeclared committee member Donna Brazile. "There is a lot of posturing going on, but I'm not interested in the posturing. I want to make sure that the process is fair."
The lineup would seem to favor Clinton, because 13 committee members publicly back her campaign while eight favor Obama.
"I'm committed to Hillary, but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow the party line," said Don Fowler, who ran the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton administration.
Sources said some of Clinton's backers may bolt. "There are some members of the committee who will stick with their candidate until the end, but there are other people who will side with doing the right thing," said a party insider.
The DNC hopes the Florida and Michigan issue will be put to rest Saturday, but sources said they were already gearing up for the arguments to extend far beyond. Appeals can run all the way until the convention in Denver.
"Our hope is to have this all resolved this weekend," said DNC spokeswoman Stacie Paxton.
Members, including Fowler, were not sure that would happen. "We might not reach a decision this weekend," Fowler said. A lot, he said, depends on Obama and Clinton.
"The campaigns together will determine if we have an easy time or a hard time," he said.
Reader Comments
The nightmare in the making...
If you're like me you didn't pay attention to the DNC's decisions to revise the calendar in 2006. Here's one Washington Post story that highlights the criticism it received back then: The Democrats' Dysfunctional Calendar By David S. Broder (Thursday, August 31, 2006; Page A25). This whole thing was a nightmare waiting to happen and neither Obama or Hillary are the cause of where we are today!!
DNC -- Florida, Michigan
I am getting the impression as I click around the blogosphere that there is an orangized attempt to monopolize the conversation on this issue by bloggers long in the jaw but weak in the particulars.
1. The rules for the contest were established prior to the beginning of the contest and all contestants agreed.
2. All contestants agreed that neither Michigan nor Florida would count
3. The issue of who has the most votes is bogus and spurious as the process is not designed to capture the number in dispute
a. caucus states do not have general elections
b. Neither Florida nor Michigan reflect a meaningful outcome with respect to numbers of voters prefering either standind candidate
4. Changing rules in mid contest is purely and simply a political expediency which bears no relationship to higher principles
5. Any outcome from the DNC which suggests a pandering or bowing to the arm twisting and bald political manipulation of a single candidate will represent the demise of the Democratic party.
6. The people are waiting for a political organization to galvanize a constituency around the issue which sorely afflict the nation.
a. the war, itself a metaphor for the profound confusion and misguided hubris of American foreign engagement
b. the profound misapplication of our wealth in the profound neglect of our social capital -- ie. education of our children, health care for our population, responsible husbandry of our envirnoment, responsbible regulation of our economy, intelligent and collaborative engagement with other nations and so on
7. If the Democrats miss golden opportunity to repair the damage of the last 8 if not 16 years, then citizens of good will may begin to feel that the organization itself if dysfunctional, and perhaps, it will be a time for a new construct to emerge in which citizens from various political affiliations begin to construct something new.
8. Hillary would never be a part of that new construct, nor McCain who continues to see the world in an antagonist and unconstructive antagonistic manner. Obama however might be, or a Bloomberg, or a Schwartzeneger. Indeed the issues facing the nation are so consequential, that allowing for the political reality of the moment, solutions, real solutions need to be found and hard truths faced squarely.
A measure of sacrifice will be needed, and not just from the poor, but from those who have enjoyed the exceptional fruits of the mismanaged last two decades.
Obama's true stature in relationship to McCain will not be apparent until he is freed from the fetters of this interminable campaign. And in this, in my view, is not anywhere near the league of Obama. His frat boy tendencies will become apparent, his limited grasp of social and political contingencies and possibilities will also be up for all to see, his flip flopping will as well, provided of course if the free pass the press has given him becomes a thing of the past.
DNC finds a way to lose as always
This Party is such a joke. For the first time in a long time, the Republican Brand Name is in the toilet and the Republicans know it, and the DNC finds a way to implode and fall on it's own sword, again.
Democrats just don't know how to campaign and Republicans don't know how to govern.
Consistently hearing that Obama isn't going to beat McCain in the fall from Clinton and her clan, now in June, is not promising or healthy or uniting...
It's turned so ugly that the general election will pail in comparison in terms of vitriol.
How can the Clintons and her supporters change their tune and promote Obama when he is the official nominee? They can't.....
Independent minded Americans need to rise up and come out in droves this election, because the Yellow Dog Dems and the Bushies probably won't this time round.
A wounded Barrack Obama going into the General Election season is going to be a very dissapointing prospect, as will a 72 year old running for his first term in office.
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