Another Florida Democratic primary unlikely
With the Democratic presidential race deadlocked, scrutiny returned Wednesday to Florida and its coveted, but blackballed, 210 delegates.
Hillary Clinton narrowed Barack Obama''s delegate edge to 105 with victories in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Clinton also wants her windfall from Florida's Jan. 29 primary, which would amount to at least 26 more delegates in her camp.
"I'd like to see them counted because I think that's in the best interests of the Democratic Party and our eventual victory in November," Clinton said of Florida in a television interview on Wednesday.
Clinton is not the only one applying pressure. Republicans and Democrats from in and outside the state urged state and national Democrats to restore Florida's representation. Some have even suggested Florida hold a new primary election or caucus.
State Democrats could pay for their own caucus, but that, too, seemed unlikely.
"Obviously, these primaries are the talk of the political world, and some are even suggesting that Florida hold a runoff election between the top two Democratic primary voter getters, which happen to be Senators Clinton and Obama," state Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said in statement late Wednesday. "However this is not a time to panic or jump to any conclusions simply because the Republicans have a nominee."
The national party stripped the state of its delegates to punish Florida for moving its primary earlier than the national party rules allowed.
Crist, though a Republican, joined the debate, publicly calling on Democrats to use the Jan. 29 election to give Florida a voice in the Democratic nomination process.
"The people of Florida voted on Jan. 29," Crist said. "They voted legally. And some party boss in Washington decided that they were not going to have the people's voice be heard. Are you kidding me? This is the will of the people. It should be respected."
Earlier this week, Crist suggested in a national interview that he would be "fine" with a new election, but on Wednesday he said he opposed the state funding such an election.
Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, also a Republican, was even more adamant that taxpayers will not pay for another election.
"But we already had an election in Florida and the taxpayers paid for it, and a lot of Democrats voted in that election," Rubio told reporters in Tallahassee.
Obama's campaign said the Jan. 29 elections are flawed because it was agreed that there would be no delegates at stake in that election. Also, both candidates agreed not to campaign in the state to punish Florida for voting seven days before party rules allowed.
David Axelrod, Obama's chief campaign strategists, said he supports Florida having a voice in the process, but opposes letting the Jan. 29 election stand.
He said Obama abided by party rules and did not compete for delegates in the state. Therefore, Axelrod said, Obama should not be punished for following the rules.
Axelrod said the Obama camp is not making any recommendations for how to tally the results fairly, but instead will leave it to DNC chairman Howard Dean.
But Dean is not the decider, a DNC spokesman said Wednesday.
Instead, it is up to Florida Democrats to either submit new plans to hold a caucus or new primary to chose delegates within party rules, or wait until July to appeal their case to the credentials committee for the Democratic National Convention. The majority of seats on that panel would be held by the candidate with the most pledged delegates, expected to be Obama, who would have little motivation to restore delegates that could overturn his nomination.
But Clinton supporters say either move is a slap in the face for the 1.7 million Democrats who voted on Jan. 29.
Thurman said the party is in talks with the national party and the candidates to find a solution, but acknowledged one may never come about.
"Indeed, it is very possible that no satisfactory alternative plan will emerge, in which case, Florida Democrats will remain committed to seating the delegates allocated by the Jan. 29th primary," she said.
The fight may be a lot of to-do about nothing, says Rhodes Cook, an expert on the presidential nominating process. Cook said despite the closeness of the race, Obama is likely to hold onto his delegate lead until the convention. If that is the case, the best Florida could do for Clinton is narrow Obama's lead and perhaps make her case that she is the stronger candidate because she won in major states. It might also hold some sway with undecided superdelegates.
For Obama, there is little to gain in seeing results restored in an election in which he lost decisively. Nor, given Clinton's support here, would Obama likely encourage a new primary election. On the other hand, a state caucus -- a process in which Obama has been successful at around the country -- might have more appeal for his campaign.
The most likely scenario, experts say, is that Florida will remain muted until after the nominee is decided. At that point, the state's delegates could be seated at the national convention, with their role strictly a formality.
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conventional wisdom seems to say that a "do-over" is the "fairest"(
) solution, but neither campaign will
hear of it. The BarackStar! wants the FL delegates to remain blackballed because he is ahead now, but could lose a
"do-over".
hillary doesn't want a do-over, because she insists that she already won the florida primary once,
and wants the delegates that she thinks she has earned.
no one seems to want to help howard dead extricate himself from his monumental screw up. WTF was he
thinking?
the DNCC disenfranchises the entire state of florida 4 years after "COUNT EVERY VOTE!", and 7 years after hanging chads
and near riots? the man obviously has no sense of the ironic.
(and Lauri and I said this would erupt into a controversy one way or another weeks and weeks ago.)
