Florida will decide the election. Sound familiar?

[madfloridian]

Are you shaking in your boots yet? Looks like Florida will get the final word after all. I am hearing a lot of second thoughts around here now, people are starting to think about how hard it might be to set up a proper mail in election system, get the ballots to Iraq and Afghanistan, and get it all done by June.

This is an op ed by a former Florida state senator, Bob McKnight.

Florida: The Final Election Decision-Maker?

Imagine, in 2008, with all of the media safeguards and the sophisticated voting technology, the Democratic nomination for president may come down to arcane paper ballots to make the selection - in guess which state - yes, Florida, again.

Yogi Berra was right, it may be dejÀ vu all over again, in the Sunshine State, eight years after the last election fiasco, which the country still has not recovered from.

.."So, the feisty and determined Clinton machine charges forward, "taking no prisoners" and remembering the Eisenhower precedent. Perhaps her relentless campaign tactics are intended to be a reflection of her presidency, if she did in fact get that 3 a.m. call in the White House.

..."With all of chaos in the Texas delegate selection, which had still not been settled as of this writing, one can only imagine what is in store for the Florida elections folks, when the Clinton and Obama shock troopers descend on Tallahassee for the final delegate selection. One observer recently said why have an election every four years? Why not make it easy, less trouble and simply let Florida decide the election?

It will be the same result anyway, with Florida being the final decision-maker in the election.

Actually many are expressing reservations about the mail in voting being done so hurriedly. It doesn't matter though cause the power brokers want it. Bill Nelson wants it, and what Bill wants, he gets.

Florida's vote-by-mail plan gains few fans

In all the haste and hurry, some forget that when they submit it to the DNC it must then be okayed by the candidates via the DNC.

But the hurdles are immense for pulling off an enormously high stakes election within the next three months:

- Growing skepticism from the Obama campaign and from key supporters of the Illinois senator. They note that Oregon spent 10 years developing and building up to a statewide mail election.

"Does anyone really believe we're going to get this right? And does anyone really want another screwed up election in Florida?," asked Tallahassee City Commissioner Allan Katz, a DNC member and top Obama supporter.

- Divisions among Clinton supporters about whether a new election, mail or otherwise, makes sense. In Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson is touting a vote-by-mail election, while U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is trashing the idea.

- Little help from the Democratic National Committee's chairman, Howard Dean, in reaching a compromise. Dean has yet to discuss the options with state Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman. (Bill Nelson has been sucking up the oxygen, Karen has been shoved to the side....but I doubt it is true that there has been no contact.)

- No consensus on even basic logistical and legal issues about whether the Democratic election should or must be run by the state. Gov. Charlie Crist says the state must run the election, but most Democratic leaders disagree.

Still, Nelson remains optimistic. His staff has been speaking with lawyers and elections officials in Oregon, which has used mail-in ballots statewide since 1998, and in Florida, including talks with state elections chief Kurt Browning.

All that in just a few weeks. But then when the money people go on TV and demand it, when the power brokers offer to come up with millions even though their states are hurting...the revote will happen. No matter whether it is organized.

There were orchestrated attacks on Dean on Sunday morning TV, though he did well in speaking out. There are attacks on the first four states regularly in Florida to remind the people that big states are better. Even the Michigan state chairman weighed in, calling Iowa the partner in crime with the DNC

It has been well done, well orchestrated. Credit due for a masterpiece of duplicity on the part of the two states.

[lapfog_1]

1. Hillary does not want a re-vote

of any kind.

She wants the delegates elected in the unsanctioned primary to be seated.

I doubt that they will get buy-in from the DNC or the candidates.

[fujiyama]

2. As long as it's conducted fairly and accurately

On that point I have no confidence in FL.

Meanwhile we'll simply have no say in our state. I don't think any Do over is planned for MI. It still amazes me that people wanted to seat MI's delegates as is, even though Hillary was the only viable candidate on the ballot.

Either way, this is one hell of a mess.

[leftofcool]

3. There will be NO re-vote, and NO seating of delegates

Of course both states will decide the election and we/Dems will lose. Ohio, Florida, Michigan=high electoral count

[TahitiNut]

9. Can't unring a bell and can't undo a FUBAR.

No gnashing of teeth or squirming will get the Dems out of the bed they made for themselves. The VOTERS, as always these days, become the collateral damage in "insider power struggles." It's my opinion that Michigan, at least, will swing 5% to the GOP in the General Election as a result of the Primary FUBAR. The most economically damaged state in the country with the highest unemployment rate and the Democrats don't deign to spend campaign money or meet the people and ask for their support ... despite many millions of doallars that have left this state tgo into the campaign coffers of Dems and GOPhers.

It took a REAL effort to blow the 2008 General Election - where the Dems had a 10::7 advantage - but it looks like the "Party hacks" are up to the task.

[Birthmark]

11. That is exactly correct.

But at least the DNC will be able to console itself with the fact that it "won."

[leftofcool]

15. Yep to both of ya!

[donheld]

4. Leave it to Florida

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Just wait until the USSC gets involved

:-(

[madfloridian]

6. Or even on March 17....we will hear from DiMaio v DNC

If he doesn't like it he will go on to the Supreme Court he says.

:think:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I know... and lordly I am expecting Bush V Gore to be used

as precedent and equal protection

[madfloridian]

12. I thought of that....it is scary to get the courts involved.

No telling what will happen. Imagine Scalia...oh well, never mind.

[SoCalDem]

20. nope.. they said that it was NOT to be used as a precedent

in their ruling.. That was a special favor to their little Georgie-boy

[boppers]

8. Florida Needs to be counted out

Until they can have an election that doesn't make them look like a third world country.

Seriously, WTH is going on down there? Why is it that during every election season, Florida is a source of drama?

As far as deciding the election goes, though, if Hillary gets the same level of voting, she still loses. Maybe she can pull an upset, though, and get 99% of the vote, and pick up more delegates?

[dailykoff]

10. The corruptocracy is going to cheat her onto the ticket

just like they cheated Dumbya into the White House twice. What happens then is kind of chilling to consider.

[dailykoff]

13. "And does anyone really want another screwed up election in Florida?"

Answer: yes, obviously.

[bhikkhu]

14. A little bit of stalling and you get a f*d up mess....

and motives and cross-motives abound.

I smell power, injustice, angst and protest, ratings and book deals in the wind.

[madfloridian]

16. Florida's original primary date was March 11. Today.

What a difference we could have made legitimately until greed got in the way..

[Capn Sunshine]

17. That's for sure

Ah...what could have been.... Hillary loses Florida in a fair election. Then we'd be hearing how only Pennsylvania matters.....hey wait.

[Window]

21. Ironic.

[Window]

18. K/R.

:kick:

[SoCalDem]

19. It will actually be fairer the 2nd time around.. people know who Obama is now

and the others are out of the race, so it could be quite compelling.. I think HRC might have gotten herself "briar patched".:rofl:

[madfloridian]

27. Lordy, let's hope so.

:rofl:

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. We are so cursed.

I wonder when our Florida leader will ever become honorable. I don't think it will happen in my lifetime.

[Independent-Voter]

23. That US elections hinge on the idiots in Ohio and Florida is a sad state of affairs

[madfloridian]

24. Yes. I agree.

I do not trust Florida to have a decent election.

[madfloridian]

25. Bill Nelson, possible VP, is the "driving force"...getting his face all over TV

The way Bill Nelson attacked Dean and the DNC on TV Sunday, actually not telling the truth... one could see his motives were not pure. It is a whole lot about Bill Nelson and how he despises Dean. No one crosses Bill Nelson.




In this photo provided by CBS, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., appears on the CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington, Sunday, March 9, 2008. Nelson has been a driving force behind Florida's mail-in plan. (AP Photo/CBS Face the Nation)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/10/politics/politico/main3923078.shtml

"Under the plan now being considered, Florida voters would receive mail-in ballots, with return postage, in mid-May and possibly face a late May or early June deadline for returning them, the state official said. Before it could be implemented, the mail-in plan would need to be voted on by the state party before heading to the Democratic National Committee for final approval, the state party official said.

The DNC would then conduct a 30-day public comment period before allowing the state party to move forward. If approved, the state party would then need at least three weeks to verify the mailing addresses of the 4 million Democrats who reside in the state before ballots could be sent.

Florida officials had been studying alternate voting methods well before the current controversy erupted, affording them a familiarity with mail-in voting even though the state does not typically conduct its primaries by that method.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin suggested on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the mail-in option might work for Michigan as well.

A spokesman for Nelson (D-Fla.), a driving force behind Florida’s mail-in plan, said the senator saw no other options to allow Florida voters a say in the nominating process."

[Medusa]

26. There is no way predicting at this point what the pivotal state might be

until we have a nominee.

[madfloridian]

28. This vote will be in June...how many states will be later?

?