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Current Events => Archives => Politics => Election 2008 => Topic started by: Wretched Excess on March 11, 2008, 11:47:19 PM
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Democrats' Quest For Mail-In Revote Hits Major Hurdle
AMPA - Florida's Democratic congressional delegation issued a joint statement Tuesday night opposing any revote in the state's presidential primary, throwing what appeared to be a major roadblock in front of the state party's efforts for a mail-in revote.
Earlier Tuesday, the state party appeared to be moving forward with a plan for a mail-in revote.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, who has advocated the idea, expected a copy of a proposed plan from state party officials Tuesday evening, a Nelson spokesman said.
The statement from the state's nine U.S. House members came after Nelson invited them to a meeting to answer their questions about the plan. "Our House delegation is opposed to a mail-in campaign or any redo of any kind."
A Nelson spokesman said he couldn't give a reaction Tuesday night without having seen the statement from the House members.
Earlier in the day, Democratic state Senate leader Steve Geller had said there will be a news conference Thursday, presumably to announce the plan. Democrats say they have to submit the plan this week to meet national party deadlines.
Geller also said he planned his own news conference today to disclose "some interesting information I've received that I'm not free to talk about now," about the revote. Party insiders said it was a poll showing about 60 percent of Florida Democrats favor a new vote, but those sources could not provide such details as question wording.
Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said Tuesday night that the plan is a draft, and doesn't represent a final decision by the party on whether to pursue a mail-in revote.
He characterized the plan as "hypothetical" and said the state party executive committee, the party's main decision-making body, would have to vote on a final decision to propose it to the national party.
Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton tend to favor a new vote. If the outcome were similar to the Jan. 29 primary, it would benefit the New York senator, who won handily but now trails Obama in the race for delegates to win the nomination.
Clinton backers are not unanimous, and Barack Obama backers, particularly blacks who see a chance to elect the nation's first black president, tend to oppose the idea.
"To me there's an appearance that a candidate is losing" - Clinton - "and now all of a sudden, we're going to have a new election," said former state Sen. Les Miller, a backer of the Illinois senator.
Current county party chairman Mike Steinberg predicted the Obama campaign would go to court to stop the plan. "They're not just going to take this sitting down," he said.
The DNC has said it won't seat a Florida delegation to the national convention based on the Jan. 29 primary - in effect not counting that vote - because it was held too early in violation of party rules.
To choose a delegation that can be seated, the state party must propose a plan for a new vote or caucus that meets DNC approval.
Link (http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/12/na-democrats-quest-for-mail-in-revote-hits-major-h/)
good heavens. :popcorn:
hillary is in favor. The BarackStar! is opposed.
this passage gives you an idea of the depth of the animosity that is building . . .
Clinton backers are not unanimous, and Barack Obama backers, particularly blacks who see a chance to elect the nation's first black president, tend to oppose the idea.
"To me there's an appearance that a candidate is losing" - Clinton - "and now all of a sudden, we're going to have a new election," said former state Sen. Les Miller, a backer of the Illinois senator.
if they do the "fair" thing, and have a do-over, the backers of The BarackStar! will scream that it's being stolen. if you leave it totally alone, you disenfranchise a whole state. if you seat the delegates as they were actually elected, the obamese will scream yet again.
it's a rare "lose-lose-lose" scenario. great job, howie. even I didn't think you could fork something up this bad. :-)
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it turns out that 5 counties in florida (including hillsborough) are covered by the voting rights act (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/sec_5/covered.htm), which means any change of this kind would have to be cleared by the DoJ, and would be subject to court challenge to ensure that the change wouldn't have a negative effect on minority voting.
the same goes for a couple of cities in michigan.
if the democrats hold a do over, they will simply have two disputed elections instead of one.
what a mess. :-) :popcorn:
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i love how that white Dem female on FOX said it was the GOPs fault that the Dems screwed this all up in Florida .. if I hadnt been laughing so hard, I'd be able to tell you her name... but I think the collective eye roll in her direction from FOX and the United States republic means.. she aint coming back as a guest anytime soon..
so, her name will remain.. well, i was gonna say 'a mystery' ... but that would assume anyone cared who she was :-)
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i love how that white Dem female on FOX said it was the GOPs fault that the Dems screwed this all up in Florida .. if I hadnt been laughing so hard, I'd be able to tell you her name... but I think the collective eye roll in her direction from FOX and the United States republic means.. she aint coming back as a guest anytime soon..
so, her name will remain.. well, i was gonna say 'a mystery' ... but that would assume anyone cared who she was :-)
the florida legislature voted to move the date of the primary to january 29; the vote in the house was unanimous.
In recent presidential election years, Florida’s primary has taken place in March.
The Florida House voted unanimously to move it up on Thursday, a week after the Senate approved the measure. In the same legislation, it approved Gov. Charlie Crist’s plan to replace the touch-screen voting machines used in many of Florida’s counties with paper ballots counted by scanning machines.
Spokesmen for two Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, indicated they would not hold back from campaigning in Florida.
“The D.N.C. and the Florida state party will arbitrate this and we will compete on the final field vigorously,†Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, said in an e-mail message, referring to the Democratic National Committee.
Story from May 4 (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/politics/04florida.html)
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so, are you telling me Florida's House is all GOP and *they* changed the rules?
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so, are you telling me Florida's House is all GOP and *they* changed the rules?
no, I am saying it was a bipartisan action on the part of the florida legislature.
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so, are you telling me Florida's House is all GOP and *they* changed the rules?
no, I am saying it was a bipartisan action on the part of the florida legislature.
so it WAS the GOPs fault...! :-)
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so, are you telling me Florida's House is all GOP and *they* changed the rules?
no, I am saying it was a bipartisan action on the part of the florida legislature.
so it WAS the GOPs fault...! :-)
Teh Rove's plan unfolds before us. All hail Teh Rove!!
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Honestly.. With McCain as our frontrunner, I was pretty much settled on the election as the Democrats to lose.
My God they are doing a better job at it than anyone expected. :cheersmate:
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Teh Rove's plan unfolds before us. All hail Teh Rove!!
You can't spell revote without
R - O - V - E ! :-)