Clinton Rejects Latest Michigan Delegate Compromise

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Clinton Rejects Latest Michigan Delegate Compromise

By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday rejected a compromise plan to seat Michigan’s delegates to the national convention that would give 69 delegates to Clinton and 59 to Barack Obama .

“This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast in Michigan’s January primary. Those votes must be counted,” Clinton spokesman Isaac Baker said.

The Michigan Democratic Party had approved the plan and intended to submit it to the Democratic National Committee meeting on May 31. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer said in a statement that the plan was a “good step toward a solution that unites Democrats and ensures that our state will not face a McCain presidency.”

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had stripped Michigan of its delegation to the Democratic National Convention because the state party scheduled its Jan. 15 primary in violation of national party rules. Several plans have been proposed to find a way to seat Michigan’s delegation.

Clinton’s campaign has maintained that the delegation should be allocated according to the vote in the Jan. 15 primary (73/55) but Obama’s campaign had argued the delegation should be split between the two candidates (64/64) because he was not on the ballot. Clinton won that contest with 55 percent of the vote but most of the other major party candidates, including Obama, had removed their names from the ballot because the state violated national party rules.

Since any plan must be approved by all the players — the state and national parties and both candidates -- it is unclear what will happen now.

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Michigan Dems Suggest Compromise Delegate Plan
By Eric Kleefeld - May 8, 2008, 10:13AM

We may be on the verge of a compromise on the Michigan situation -- with the key being that a new solution wouldn't actually change the overall delegate race.

The Michigan state party's executive committee voted to submit a proposal to the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, to send 69 delegates for Clinton and 59 for Obama.

The +10 margin for Hillary would be a significant cut from her +18 over "Uncommitted" in the state's rogue January primary, would take away any chance of getting at any of the 55 slots for Uncommitted, and would still allow the seating of a full delegation.

Meanwhile, the Wall St. Journal points out that we might soon see a softening of Obama's position on this issue. With the likelihood of his nomination now significantly increased, he is free to approve any plan that would seat delegates but wouldn't swing the nomination over to Hillary.