The scene at halftime
Posted: Saturday, May 31, 2008 4:21 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC's Mark Murray
After the rules committee took its late lunch break, Clinton campaign representatives -- led by Harold Ickes -- held a press conference. Asked if the Clinton campaign was willing to make a concession like the Obama campaign made over Florida's delegation (allowing Clinton to net an extra 19 delegates), Ickes replied, "A concession? Give me a break."
Under that compromise, he said, Clinton would end up losing delegates (if you seat the Florida delegates fully).
Also during the break, committee member Donald Fowler, a Clinton supporter, told First Read that it's "better than 50-50" that a resolution is reached today. Fowler said that the tricky part, as Domenico posted earlier, is how to allocate those Michigan delegates.
*** UPDATE *** Former congressman David Bonior, who made the case for the Obama campaign on Michigan -- that the delegates should be split 50-50 -- told First Read that he was here to hopefully accept a decision of 50-50, not otherwise. But he acknowledged that the apportionment of Michigan's delegates is the problem right now for the committee.
Most on the committee, it seems, are willing to accepts half votes for Michigan and Florida and Florida appears all but done, including apportionment by the primary vote. That we've noted would net Clinton 19 pledged delegates out of the contest. We'll see if the Obama campaign is willing to concede somewhere between the 50-50 split (64-64 halved to 32-32) and the 69-59 (halved to 35.5-29.5) split floated by the Michigan Democratic Party. One thing's for certain, Ickes, Tina Flournoy and Clinton camp appear unwilling to budge.
