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Do FL and MI Count?

Started by H Needles; Last updated Mar 10, 08 11:06 AM CDT by D Lim | View history

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Do FL and MI Count?

"Clearly I believe their votes should count, and I believe there has to be a way to make them count." -Hillary Clinton

What can be done about states like Florida and Michigan, whose votes in January were discounted because they defied party rules and held early primaries? As the two Democratic candidates face-off for the nomination, those states are proving more valuable than originally expected.

Stories

Stories 1 - 20 of 41

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May 2008
- Democrats to Settle Score on Fla., Mich.
  
  newser | Washington Post | May 31, 08 7:33 AM CDT
  
  The Democratic rules committee has begun a daylong meeting to try to settle the dispute over the seating of Florida and Michigan’s delegates, chosen in violation of party rules. Many Dems expect half the delegations from each state to be seated, the Washington Post reports, which would do little to alter the delegate math that underscores Barack Obama’s virtual lock on the nomination. More »
- Top Democrats Say Race Ends Next Week
  
  newser | New York Times | May 29, 08 9:24 PM CDT
  
  Democratic leaders say the primary fight will be over next week, making it all but certain that Barack Obama will be the nominee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and party chief Howard Dean say they will press uncommitted superdelegates to make up their minds by midweek, after Tuesday's final primaries, the New York Times reports. “By this time next week, it will all be over, give or take a day," said Reid. More »
- Mich.-Fla. Plan, Net Gain of 19 for Clinton, Picking Up Steam
  
  newser | Talking Points Memo | May 29, 08 5:10 PM CDT
  
  A plan to give each of Florida’s Democratic delegates a half-vote and to split Michigan’s halved delegates evenly between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is “gaining some traction in the right circles” ahead of Saturday’s DNC meeting, Talking Points Memo discerns from an MSNBC report. The compromise would net Clinton 19 delegates and set a new “magic number” of 2,118. More »
- DNC Lawyers: Only Half of Fla., Mich. Can Be Seated Saturday
  
  newser | Talking Points Memo | May 28, 08 2:06 PM CDT
  
  By Democratic Party rules, the long-awaited committee meeting on Saturday is authorized to re-seat no more than half of the outlaw delegations from Florida and Michigan, party lawyers have advised in a new memo. The Rules and Bylaws Committee is required to maintain a penalty for the leapfrogging states that cuts their original delegate counts at least by half, the AP reports. More »
- Clinton's Delegate Math Goes From Fuzzy to Demeaning
  
  newser | Washington Post | May 28, 08 1:37 PM CDT
  
  Attempts by Hillary Clinton supporters to link the push to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations with fights for suffrage and other freedoms the world over is "an equation that makes a mockery of democracy and feminism,” Harold Meyerson writes in the Washington Post —particularly since Clinton herself supported sanctions on the states until it became politically urgent to shift course. More »
- Obama to Fans: Don't Protest Rules Meeting
  
  newser | The Hill | May 28, 08 12:28 PM CDT
  
  Barack Obama is urging supporters not to demonstrate at Saturday’s meeting of the Democrats' rules committee, hoping to keep the event from becoming a cable-news circus, the Hill reports. Clinton supporters have pledged to gather outside the meeting, where party bigs will decide whether, and how many Florida and Michigan delegates are seated at the convention in August. More »
- Bill Decries 'Cover-Up' By Dem Brass
  
  newser | CNN | May 27, 08 2:14 PM CDT
  
  Bill Clinton claimed this weekend that there is a conspiracy to bury polls showing Hillary to be the better Democratic general-election candidate against John McCain, adding, “I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running.” “Oh, this is so terrible," said the former president of conspirators' reaction to positive Hillary Clinton tidings, "we have to cover this up.” More »
- Dems Jockey on Florida and Michigan Votes
  
  newser | St. Petersburg Times | May 22, 08 5:10 PM CDT
  
  With primary voting in its final stretch, the long-simmering argument about outlaw Florida and Michigan balloting is heating up. Hillary Clinton's camp is still arguing that all delegates should be seated, while Barack Obama said seating half the Florida delegates would be “a very reasonable solution”—though he discounted the vote's legitimacy, calling it “essentially a referendum on name recognition.” More »
- No, She Isn’t Winning the Popular Vote
  
  newser | Newsweek | May 22, 08 12:13 PM CDT
  
  Hillary Clinton’s insistence that she’s winning the popular vote not only promotes a meaningless rubric in a delegate contest, but it's also a dangerous claim—and a false one, Jonathan Alter writes in Newsweek . Not only is Clinton trampling on old sore spots (think Al Gore in 2000), but she’s also in the wrong, Alter asserts, then runs through the math. More »
- Clinton Camp Rejects New Michigan Plan
  
  newser | Talking Points Memo | May 8, 08 8:51 PM CDT
  
  Hillary Clinton today rejected the latest plan for seating Michigan’s rogue delegates, Talking Points Memo reports. A campaign rep wrote of the scheme settled on by state Dems that would award Clinton 69 delegates to Obama’s 59: “This proposal does not honor the 600,000 votes that were cast. Those votes must be counted.” January's extra-legal vote netted her 73 conventioneers to 55 for “uncommitted.” More »
- Obama Will Declare Victory on May 20
  
  newser | Politico | May 8, 08 11:29 AM CDT
  
  Barack Obama plans to lay claim to his party’s nomination on May 20, the day that votes in Kentucky and Oregon will net him a majority of pledged delegates, a top aide tells Politico, setting up what David Paul Kuhn calls “a train wreck waiting to happen.” For at least 11 days—until the DNC meets on whether and how to seat Michigan and Florida’s outlaw delegates—the Clinton camp will dispute it. More »
- Michigan Settles on Delegate Plan
  
  newser | Detroit News | May 8, 08 8:33 AM CDT
  
  The Michigan Democratic Party agreed yesterday to a plan to split its delegates to the August convention: The state wants to award 69 to Hillary Clinton and 59 to Barack Obama, who did not appear on the ballot in the primary, which was voided because it broke party rules. Michigan would also seat 29 superdelegates, reports the Detroit News . More »
- Downtrodden Clinton Aides Grasp at Fla., Mich. Straws
  
  newser | Washington Post | May 7, 08 2:11 PM CDT
  
  Last night’s primary disappointments have Hillary Clinton's aides skeptical about their candidate’s chances, the Washington Post reports. Advisers say their only hope is a last-ditch push to include results from Florida and Michigan. “Absent some sort of miracle on May 31st, it’s going to be tough for us,” said one senior official. “We lost this thing in February.” More »
- Scrambling Hillary Changes the Target
  
  newser | Los Angeles Times | May 7, 08 5:24 AM CDT
  
  Barack Obama's resounding win in North Carolina and fight to the finish in Indiana has left the Clinton campaign with one final strategy to win the nomination: move the goalposts and play for time. Team Hillary is now telling journalists that the winning candidate actually needs almost 200 more delegates than both sides had said earlier, reports the Los Angeles Times. More »
- Delegate Calculus Blurs Big Picture
  
  newser | Washington Times | May 6, 08 3:00 PM CDT
  
  The Clinton campaign is looking past 2,025—the current delegate threshold for clinching the nomination—and focusing on 2,208, the magic number if the party seats Michigan and Florida delegates, the Washington Times reports. “That’s what we believe is the standard for deciding this,” says a top strategist. More »
- Hispanic Dems Could Make GOP Nervous in Fla.
  
  newser | Politico | May 5, 08 11:16 AM CDT
  
  Registered Democrats will take a lead among a crucial demographic for the first time this week: Hispanic Floridians. The GOP has lost ground in its traditional stronghold for the last 2 years, and its slide might give the Democrats a shot at the critical state and its 27 electoral votes in November, Politico reports. National Dems had largely been ready to cede, but now, "They absolutely need to be in Florida," says the state chair. More »
April 2008
- Why Clinton Should be Winning
  
  newser | Salon | Apr 7, 08 11:19 AM CDT
  
  Barack Obama is beating Hillary Clinton in the delegate count only because of the eccentricities of the Democratic Primary system, argues Sean Wilentz on Salon. Like it or not, the general election will be a winner-take-all affair, and if the primaries were conducted the same way, Clinton would lead Obama 1,430 delegates to 1,257, with her total jumping to 1,743 if Florida and Michigan were counted. More »
- No Deal on Mich., Fla. Until June: Dean
  
  newser | Associated Press | Apr 6, 08 7:48 PM CDT
  
  Florida and Michigan delegates will likely have to wait until June to see whether they can participate in the party’s convention, Howard Dean said on Face the Nation today. The DNC chairman said Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would rather focus on the final primaries, which will end on June 3, the AP reports. "But I think we can work it out, and I want to work it out," he said. More »
- Hillary Renews Call for State Re-Votes
  
  newser | Associated Press | Apr 5, 08 8:24 PM CDT
  
  Stumping in Oregon today, Hillary Clinton kept up her fight to recognize Florida and Michigan primary results, saying the votes had been “officially tallied,” the AP reports. “The question is whether those 2.3 million Democrats will be honored.” Meanwhile Barack Obama’s camp, which has offered to evenly split the disputed delegates, reminded reporters that Clinton once said the contests “didn’t count for anything.” More »
March 2008
- Michigan Rep. Floats New Plan to Seat Delegates
  
  newser | Associated Press | Mar 31, 08 3:27 PM CDT
  
  A new plan from a Michigan congressman would apportion about half the state's Democratic delegates based on its outlaw January primary and the other half according to national popular-vote tallies, the AP reports. “The last thing we want to do as Democrats," Bart Stupak wrote to Democratic Party chief Howard Dean, "is to disenfranchise voters.” More »

Stories 1 - 20 of 41

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Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean pledges allegiance to the flag at the start of the Democratic National Committee Fall Meeting in Vienna, Va., Friday, Nov. 30, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles... (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during an election night rally Tuesday, March 4, 2008, in San Antonio, Texas. Obama won the Vermont primary for his 12th straight victory... (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left and Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrive on stage for a debate at Cleveland State University in... (Associated Press)

Former Democratic presidential hopeful and Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean, mimics his 2004 Iowa Caucus address at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's 49th annual 100 Club dinner... (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. acknowledges supporters during a primary night rally Tuesday, March 4, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan) (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and his wife Michelle arrive on stage for an election night rally Tuesday, March 4, 2008, in San Antonio, Texas. Obama won the Vermont primary... (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. acknowledges supporters during a primary night rally Tuesday March 4, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio. Clinton is the projected winner of the... (Associated Press)

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes remarks during a election rally Tuesday, March 4, 2008, in San Antonio, Texas. Obama won the Vermont primary for his 12th straight victory... (Associated Press)

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Related Threads

Election 2008 • Clinton 2008 • Clinton-Obama Tussle • Obama 2008 • DNC Convention = War • The Hillary Endgame • A House Divided • States That Matter • Florida Primary • Michigan Primary

Background

Whose Nominee Is It, Anyway?
Slate

The big-picture political-science story of the 1972 presidential election was the enfranchisement of the primary voter. In 1968, the states had held 15 primaries in which 34 percent of all convention delegates were selected. In 1972, the states held 22 primaries in which 53 percent of all convention...

» Read more about Whose Nominee Is It, Anyway? at Slate

More Recommend Reading

The Florida-Michigan Morass
New York Times | Mar 6, 08
Why Including Florida and Michigan Will Not End the Democratic Stalemate
Forbes | Mar 6, 08
Five options for Florida and Michigan
Politico | Mar 6, 08

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