Why I support the right of the Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated

[journalist3072]

I wholeheartedly support the right of the Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated.

It seems to me that both parties have gotten too caught up in tradition (i.e. Iowa and New Hampshire must go first) and in the process, have tried to disinfranchise voters in other states.

We need to put the voters before tradition.

And I have historical precedent for feeling this way.

Back in 2004, the District of Columbia wanted to bring attention to the lack of its voting rights in the U.S. Congress. There are still some people who are not aware that the citizens of the District of Colubmia, have no representation in the U.S. Congress.

To help spotlight this issue, DC Democrats decided to hold a non-binding presidential primary before Iowa and New Hampshire. The District still held it's regularly scheduled binding primary...but also held a non-binding one to spotlight DC voting rights.

There were nine Democrats running that year. And five of those Democrats wrote to the DC Board of Elections and Ethics, and asked to have their name removed from the ballot, simply because DC wanted to spotlight the lack of representation in Congress, and hold a non-binding primary.

The fact that John Edwards was one of those Democrats who had their name removed from the ballot, is a large reason why I cannot support him now, and would not vote for him if he ended up as the nominee this year.

The point is: there comes a time when you have to put the voters about tradition.

[dkf]

1. Or maybe its because you support Hillary?

[Name removed]

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[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Never speak the obvious when so,mebody is in the process

of making a fool of herself...

;-)

[sniffa]

2. You could have made this much shorter.

And just said, "because I want Hillary to win."

[Clarkansas]

5. I know. What a joke.

Billary doesn't give two shits about FL or MI unless they can help her win the nomination. If Obama was on course to win FL, she would be singing a different tune. Billary only cares about Billary.

[BeatleBoot]

12. Detroit Free Press: Clinton pledges to seat Mich. delegates despite primary flap

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880125025

Clinton pledges to seat Mich. delegates despite primary flap
January 25, 2008

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said Friday that she wants the Michigan and Florida delegations seated at the Democratic National Convention.

The New York senator will ask delegates pledged to her to support seating the two delegations when the Democrats meet in Denver in August.

“I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan,” she said in a statement released Friday. “I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be president of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.”

Michigan and Florida wanted to have more of an impact on the selecting the political parties’ nominee for president so both states moved their primary dates up — Michigan to Jan. 15 and Florida to Jan. 29. As a result, the Democratic National Committee punished the states by ruling that no delegates from the states would be seated at the national convention. The candidates also pledged not to campaign in either state and none have, with the exception of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who was to formally announce today his withdrawal from the race.

The Republican National Committee also sanctioned the states by ruling that only half the states’ delegates would be seated at their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

Political activists have long said that the eventual nominee would end up seating the states’ delegations, and the Republican candidates have indicated they will do that.

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[Kittycat]

3. Then you should have spoke out against their State Dem Leaders when they decided to break the rules.

[knitter4democracy]

11. For crying out loud, Michiganders did.

Our party leadership sided with the MIGOP on this one, ignored our pleas, and screwed us all in the process.

[cyclezealot]

17. you don't want Michigan's 17 electoral votes come Nov.

keep it up.

[knitter4democracy]

18. Excuse me?! I'm a Michigander. How do I not want our votes to count?

Whatever. :eyes:

[cyclezealot]

21. native born Michiganian too.

Debbie Dingell is our Congressman's wife. We are even in agreement with Debbie Dingell's demand to rock the boat. This primary process is flawed. Polls show in Florida state dem's are made as hell about the DNC punishment. Polls even showed like 1/5 of Fla independents will be less inclined to vote Democratic for president. We need run a similiar poll in Michigan to determine whatever course the National convention takes, impacts of the MI , FLA November vote. / Also, a point. Did not the MI GOP also punish themselves of 1/2 of the Delegates to the Minneapolis convention?

[knitter4democracy]

22. RNC stripped MI of half, yes. We lost all. They were allowed to campaign, too.

Mad as hell is right, too. People here in Battle Creek are royally pissed, and it makes me think we'll swing red. The Dem nom will have to work his or her ass off here to make us swing blue again.

[thunder rising]

4. Blah blah blah...to bad, get over it (writing live from WPB..where are you worrying about me)

[Name removed]

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[Hugabear]

8. It made perfect sense to me

Thunder Rising is writing from West Palm Beach. As a Florida resident, you're fighting over his right to have his vote counted.

I live in Florida also, but I recognize that my state broke the rules. We were warned ahead of time of the consequences.

[journalist3072]

10. So you don't think we need to value voters over tradition?

That's my whole point...

Sometimes, you have to take a stand.

That's the way I felt in 2004, when DC struggled to have their voices heard, and the issue of DC voting rights addressed.

[Hugabear]

I can see where the DNC is coming from

The primaries have always been set up to give smaller states like New Hampshire, Iowa, etc a head start. You had two states that wanted to steal the spotlight for themselves. There was even talk of a state (forget which one) moving its primary to December. The DNC took a stand, and warned that any state moving its primary into January would lose its delegates.

Why is this debate raging now, and not back when this decision was made?

[ShortnFiery]

9. B.S. The votes don't count! Those who "wrote in" votes for Edwards and Obama were NOT counted

for them but placed in the "no preference" category.

If HRC's smarmy Mark Penn and Operatives pulls-off this travesty of justice, there will be HELL TO PAY! :grr: :nuke:

[knitter4democracy]

13. As a Michigander, I disagree on one point: don't seat our superdelegates.

Seat our proportional delegates from the primary, dividing the undecided equally between Obama and Edwards unless there's some agreement between them by then. Just don't let our superdelegates go. They're the ones who screwed us over on this whole mess, and they don't deserve to go. That way, our votes still matter and our party leadership gets the smackdown they deserve.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. What about the voters who stayed at home, thinking their vote wouldn't count?

Or what about those who voted "uncommitted"? Do only the votes actually cast for one candidate count, when at the time the rules might have confused or misled the rest of the electorate? The only fair way is to redo the entire primary or not have it count at all.

[jenmito]

15. Riiiight...Just like Bill Clinton supported the date of the NH primary until he thought Hillary was

going to lose, or the way they were fine with the NV caucus rules/sites until Obama got the CWU endorsement. :rofl:

[suston96]

16. People are so wrapped up in their candidate that they are ignoring some basics....

....It's not about candidates, it's about a nominating process where the national political parties have decided to have voters directly elect delegates to a nominating convention, where those delegates will indicate their choices.

Once the political parties make this process available to all citizens, then all those citizens must be treated equally.

It happens to be the touchstone of our system of self-governance: equal and total participation by all.

[AtomicKitten]

19. Take it up with the DNC.

Blaming Obama for the decisions made by the DNC underscores the the disingenuous attacks on him.

A better question would be why did Hillary wait until now to kvetch about the rules? Oh yeah, that's right. Just like in Nevada when she realizes she just may be on the ropes, then and only then does she start whining.

Howard Dean makes the rules and he knows what he is doing. If you don't like the rules he has set, take it up with the DNC.

[Bitwit1234]

23. They are supposed to be..That was what was said. If the votes

are needed. They will then be seated. They won't. Hillary Clinton will get enough to be voted in.