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.
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good heavens.
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.
