Politics – Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) warned the Democratic National Committee Thursday that it is facing the "biggest train wreck you've ever seen" if a standoff is not resolved over his state's pledged delegates to the party's presidential nominating convention.
"If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?" Nelson told reporters Thursday. "It's in everybody's interest to find a solution to this problem."
However, earlier in the day, Dean said the party would not pay for any do-over.
"We can't afford to do that," Dean stated on CBS's "Early Show." "That's not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race."
Nelson has a point. Florida has had it's election, it's the DNC that's backed itself into a corner. The Republicans did this right. They penalized the state by taking away half it's delegates, the states accepted it, had their primary, and it's now a done deal.
Don't forget, they screwed up in Michigan, too. Michigan is far worse off than Florida in financial terms. And five months of this long bitter "global warming" winter has the Michigan budget even more screwed up than the dems already had it BEFORE the "global warming winter" began nearly FIVE, LONG, COLD, BITTER months ago.
They have more important things to do, like using that money to fix the pothole-afflicted roads after this long, cold, bitter "Global Warming" winter finally ends hopefully this spring.
Since Dean said that the national party needs the money for the general election and won't pay for a "do-over," that leaves it to the state party to pay. If the state party wants to pay for a "do-over" and can run a fair election process, well, that is O.K. by me. But I would object heavily and recommend the citizens take it to court if they try to pay for it with taxpayer money.
"Lawmakers from both states met with DNC officials late Wednesday, but no progress was made on resolving the dispute.
Nelson warned that if the DNC does not pay for a new primary and if the delegations are not seated, Democrats could very easily lose Florida, which has long played a key role in deciding the winner of the general election.
"If they are not going to accept Florida's election, then we can do a redo, full-blown election again, but someone is going to have to pay for it other than the taxpayers of Florida," Nelson said.
Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, and GOP legislature have refused to pay for a redo of the primaries, but Crist is open to holding another election paid for by the DNC, which has struggled in fundraising.
Nelson said not resolving the impasse would disenfranchise 1.75 million Florida Democrats who voted in the Jan. 29 primaries, as well as independents."
Shabam!
Its like I said yesterday: if the Democrats will not accept the votes of Florida now, I'm sure the GOP will gladly accept them in November.
The Dem's whined and cried for the past 8 years over votes not being counted in Florida, now they want to not count a single vote?
You having wet dream.
Most democrats will NOT vote republican this election period. Previous republican idiot put us in all that mess. I guarantee you that no matter what impact of that is: Hillary florida vote => democratic vote in the general election.
McInsane will not get any.
"Former Bush strategist Karl Rove notes Thursday in The Wall Street Journal "the interesting electoral phenomenon is the emergence of the 'McCainicrats' -- Democrats backing Mr. McCain."
Rove continued: "In three recent polls, (Fox, LA Times/Bloomberg and Gallup), almost twice as many Democrats support Mr. McCain as Republicans support Mr. Obama. Three times as many Democrats support Mr. McCain as Republicans back Mrs. Clinton."
The DNC really skewed this up. It was the Republican controlled legislature that moved the primary up. The DNC should have dealt with the issue before the vote. They played right into the Republican hands. You think that those Republicans didn't know what they where doing when they moved the primary up? Think again.
Strategically speaking the DNC would be best off paying for a redo. They could admit they made a mistake in the stripping of delegates and pay for the mistake. Regarding cost per electoral vote that would create, it would probably be extremely efficient. Obama should start pushing for the DNC to pay for it to perhaps eke out a victory in each state. If he makes a clear stand on the DNC paying for a redo the taxpayers in those states will surely appreciate it.
Heck, let Barack pay for it; he only made 55 MILLION dollars in the month of February. lol, he can even afford a mini-fan for each voter so they won't faint! ; )
Aye, indeed he can! That would be the ultimate strategy for Barack to win those delegates. Simply say he's believes in the democratic process so much he'll pay for the revotes even though he lost both on the first ballots cast. I guarantee he will win with 30% margins!
Candidates paying for elections? How absurd! Why not invite observers from the third world countries whose elections we observe? If anyone is going to pay for the mistakes in these two states, it should be the fools who knew the rules and broke them anyway. After all, Charlie Crist knew the rules, as did Jennifer Granholm in Michigan. They could have worked a deal earlier than this.
I suggest accepting half the delegates from both states, as the Republicans did, and be done with it. I also suggest for future reference that states like Iowa and New Hampshire be given far less attention. Come on, less than 1 percent of the US population lives in those states. Let one state from each of six regions across the country have their primaries or caucuses on the same day. In that way, candidates have to be prepared to shuttle from Florida to Washington State all in one day.
I wasn't saying he will or that it would be ethical for Obama to do this. Actually I was joking about Obama paying for it! I think the DNC, strategically speaking, is best off paying for it. Obama should push for the DNC to pay for it. It would be a powerful gesture for the DNC to say they were wrong to ignore votes. The DNC should just put in a rule saying no primary or caucus may be held before the first of the year of the election. That way nothing will be moved up to far. Anyway, if the DNC did pay for it Florida will probably vote Dem in the election. Now its a toss-up I believe and this would be the easiest and fastest way to win Florida.
This was all a game of brinksmanship so they could move up the primary closer to NH's. Its on the Fl demooctaric party, they played the game and their bluff was called....maybe they should of thought it through a little more.
actually it was the Florida Legislature that set the date and they are controlled by Republicans..
That's what I thought too but then I found this article:
August 2007 New Youk Times
Democrats Take a Tough Line on Florida Primary
The Democratic National Committee, threatening to take the toughest line possible, voted Saturday to refuse to seat any Florida Democrat at the Democratic presidential convention in 2008 if the state party did not delay the date of its 2008 primary to conform to the party's nominating calendar.
The committee gave Florida Democrats 30 days to propose a primary date that conformed with Democratic rules prohibiting all but four states from holding their primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5. But Florida leaders, who seemed stunned by a near-unanimous vote and the severity of the punishment, said they were doubtful they could come up with an alternative.
Florida Democratic leaders said they were resistant to bowing to the party's demands, having already refused twice. And assuming the party has a presumptive nominee by the time the convention is seated in Denver next year, it will be the nominee â;; not party officials â;; who would have the power to resolve a dispute over who is seated.
Aides to several candidates said it was inconceivable that in the end, a Democratic presidential candidate a year from now would penalize a state like Florida, going into a general election, by refusing to seat the state's delegates.
The vote on the date in the FL legislature was BIPARTISAN!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in a political pickle.
His top two lieutenants - Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin - are not just split on this matter. They are Clinton's and Obama's loyal seat mates in the Senate and top campaign supporters on each side. Schumer's for Hillary, Durbin for Obama.
That leaves Al Gore as the only person with the experience to answer the red phone and force a peaceful end to this civil war.
The inconvenient truth is that the red phone is now ringing and Al Gore hears it. The only question is whether he has the guts to pick it up.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03062008/news/colum...
Shoot! This was the second part of my comment below. Propeller popped it into the wrong spot
Yeah it was a vast right wing plot... ya gotta love those that try and use that tact over and over and over and,,,,, the Dems could have done it so they wouldn't be in this mess. What got them here from their was Hillary's arrogance of invincibility and the foregone conclusion that she would be president 4 years back. Ah but a little known man that can stand toe to toe with Hillary's hubby in the smooth talk department came into the picture and was under estimated.
Gawd I love it so. Now if BHO doesn't fight and try and look like the saint as he has he may show weakness. If HRC steals the election then she will be even more hated, in fact one from the barrack camp called her evil or something like that.
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Whoaaa . . . good article, dude.
The biggest threat to our democracy is the Democratic party. Where else is one blocked from voting in a primary because it was "too early". Disgraceful.
Sweetie, we invented the phrase: "Vote early and often."
Nobody got blocked from voting, that's apparent.
When the DNC put forward the penalties for moving the primary forward before "super tuesday", the republican governor of florida, and the republican majority florida legislature voted to move the primary forward in house bill 537. This was all done to disenfranchise the number of black voters in florida.
It's clear that they're not going to have another primary, and it's also clear that delegates from florida ARE going to count in choosing the democratic candidate. None of the current candidates had an official campaigning presence.
lovemylabes, your wit is as dry as a cornhusk in a corn hole, and about as funny as stomach cancer.
Whoa! Calm down there, earthman.
Hillary and Obama agreed to punishing Florida. Only now that it's a horse race do we hear Hillary whining. It turns out she needs those delegates.
So here's your choice for the dem nomination:
Hillary the whining cheater
or
Barack "My Wife Hates This Country" Obama.
I would think you would like that middle name more than Hussein.
Why are you so "concerned" about how the Democrats run their own primaries? Primaries and caucuses are INTRAPARTY AFFAIRS, and as such, the DNC is free run them as it sees fit. You have NO say because you're NOT a member.
The state Democratic party broke DNC rules and now they're paying the consequences.
LOCKY:
"So here's your choice for the dem nomination:"
And here's your choice for the general election:
A Democrat
or
A RINO
The choice is clear: the public has spoken and the neocons have lost.
If continuing to obssess over internal Democratic affairs keeps you distracted from the disappointing election of your own RINO, then by all means continue to live in denial. But it's going to have little effect on the general election. Clinton and Obama are BOTH outfundraising McCain AND eliciting record voter turnouts--bad news for Republicans in November.
Silly Democrat,
Your worthless party will have "Super" delegates-- favorite sons of your party choose your nominee for you.
Because the "little people" like yourself are just too dumb to pick.
But tell me again how Gore was robbed in 2000. I like hearing it.
LOCKY:
"Your worthless party will have "Super" delegates-- favorite sons of your party choose your nominee for you."
WRONG. It's time for you to get your facts straight: a majority of the superdelegates haven't endorsed EITHER candidate and are waiting for the results of all the primaries and caucuses before casting their vote in favor of the candidate who wins the popular vote.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22067963
"A little more than half of the Democratic superdelegates contacted â;; 365 of the 765 â;; said they haven't settled on a Democratic standard bearer."
It's becoming obvious why you don't support ANY of your "arguments" with evidence--it's because you have nothing substantive to contribute. Don't you hate being wrong all the time?
What a pathetic waste of Propeller's bandwidth.
Are you kidding me?
The mere fact that your party even has so-called "super delegates" makes your vote worthless.
So be sure to cast your "little" vote now, and rest easy knowing that party big-wigs will vote the way they should.
LOCKY:
"The mere fact that your party even has so-called "super delegates" makes your vote worthless."
WRONG. These superdelegates have usually voted with the candidate who wins the majority. And AS THE DOCUMENT I CITED INDICATES, the majority of superdelegates intend to do the same in this contest. Now I know why you NEVER support any of your "counterarguments" with documented evidence--because YOU DON'T HAVE ANY. You're content bloviating your unsubstantiated misconceptions without actually learning and knowing the facts.
How typically neocon of you.
Pathetic.