Delegate fight: Taking FL/MI head on
Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 9:10 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, Michigan, Florida, Delegates
Obama will deal head-on, in some form, with the Florida/Michigan delegate dispute when he travels to Michigan tomorrow. "The Obama campaign has publicly supported a proposal by Michigan's Democratic executive committee to allocate 54 percent of Michigan's Democratic delegates to Clinton and 46 percent to Obama. ‘This proposal doesn't honor the 600,000 people that voted in the January primary,’ Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said Monday. ‘Their voices should be heard.’”
“Obama called the compromise proposal ‘a legitimate approach.’ ‘My bottom line is, I want to get the Michigan delegation seated,’ he said. ‘I want to get the Florida delegation seated, and I want them to be participating in the convention. I want to win those states in November."
The Wall Street Journal looks at the history of recent drawn out primary fights and finds it's usually bad for that party in the fall. "The 1976, 1980 and 1984 elections could prove a grim parallel for the Democrats, though. Messrs. Ford, Carter and Mondale all were weakened by their challengers and went on to lose the general election. The difference is that all three faced tough races anyway. This year, Democrats have the electoral winds at their backs, but a long, ugly nominating battle that splits the party still could cost it the White House. ‘That's the danger of pressing on,’ Colby's Mr. Corrado says."
A new USA Today/Gallup poll suggests a majority of Democrats don't mind the race continuing. Also, a majority of Dems would like Obama to pick Clinton as his running mate.
George McGovern, who just switched from Clinton to Obama, has an op-ed calling on both Dems to campaign together for the rest of the primaries. "The two candidates should also visit the two disputed states, Michigan and Florida. No matter what happens to the delegations from those states, their voters are entitled to see and to hear these two historic candidates. This is an agenda that could unite our party and prepare us for a successful convention with a big victory in November. It would also be a refreshing and welcome change for American presidential politics."
On the other hand… “A Tennessee congressman was forced to apologize after comparing Hillary Clinton to Glenn Close's psycho character in ‘Fatal Attraction,’ in which she refused to end an affair with a married man. ‘Glenn Close should have stayed in that tub, and Sen. Clinton has had a remarkable career and needs to move to the next step, which is helping elect the Democratic nominee,’ said Democrat Steve Cohen, a Barack Obama supporter.”
