By Big Tent Democrat

"I want to send a message to Florida."

- Donna Brazile, 8-25-08 DNC Meeting

Here is the video of the 8-25-07 DNC meeting where Florida was stripped of its delegates. I will watch it now and add my analysis to this post.

The DNC Staff recommended that the rule the Florida delegate selection plan to be not in compliance. The DNC Staff did NOT recommend a punishment.

Florida, through its Dem Party Chair Karen Thurman, then presented its case for why it was in compliance. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I watched Howard Dean's appearance on CBS's Face The Nation. He did a fine job I thought. Then I saw his appearance on ABC's This Week. He blew it there.

First and foremost, Dean decided to comment on the importance of the popular votes. After saying "we must listen to the voters," Howard Dean then decided to mash up this point by dismissing the importance of the popular vote. Interestingly, I do not think Dean meant to do that. I think he meant to say this is a delegate race (and Dean NEVER treated the pledged delegate count as particularly meaningful). Dean wants the delegates to decide, as they will. But the Super Delegates can, should, and I believe, WILL look at the popular vote as an important, maybe even decisive, factor. I do not think Howard Dean has any objection to that. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Katie Bird at RiverDaughter reminds us of what the Hillary Clinton camp said about Michigan in October 2007 when she decided to keep her name on the ballot (along with Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel):

Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said it would be foolish to rebuff an important swing state, especially since doing so could alienate Democratic-leaning independents who could be favoring her. But she is also taking a risk that staying in Michigan will not hurt her in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Those states, all sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee to vote first, forced the Democratic candidates to sign a pledge not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. Clinton advisers said that even though she was staying in the Michigan race, she would not campaign there.

(Emphasis supplied.) BTW, the removal from the MI ballot was an Obama campaign stunt (done to gain advantage in Iowa and discredit the Michigan contest) created after the 4 state pledge was forced upon the candidates. It was, in the words of the Obama campaign, an "additional commitment," and not required by the 4 state pledge.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Via andgarden, here and here should explain my obsession with solving the FL/MI problem, preferably with revotes.

Those 44 electoral votes will likely decide the election in November. At the very least, a revote in Michigan is essential.

By Big Tent Democrat

Democratic FL state representative Ted Deutch (a Clinton supporter) recites the case against the DNC's handling of the FL/MI situations:

. . . It's clear that Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida all violated the same rule and should be treated the same. But that's not what happened. While the rules designate a 50 percent delegate reduction, the DNC imposed the death penalty - a 100 percent reduction - on Florida and Michigan. Amazingly, the other "rule-breakers" got no penalty at all.

The DNC has chosen to waive the rules when it believes that it suits the DNC's purposes. If the DNC insists on treating Florida differently, then it should be reminded that its own rules establish a 50 percent penalty rather than the death penalty given to Florida Democrats. . . . Rather than continue this divisive debate, the DNC should simply return to the rules that it drafted.

Read the whole thing.

Here's Hillary Clinton in Oregon today:

Hillary Clinton delivered an impassioned defense of her continued candidacy in Eugene, Oregon — telling a young Obama supporter who asked whether she really wanted to help the Democratic party or was merely being “self serving” that the race “is not a coronation. It is a contest.”

“Election are about choices. You’re supposed to present your case and you’re supposed to critique the other case. That’s what you do in an election,” she said. “This country is worth fighting for, and I’m going to fight for it.” The crowd erupted in a standing ovation.

She also addressed hope and change: [More...]

Update: Hillary's speech focused on policy. More on the dinner is here.

Update: As others have noticed, Obama didn't realize Montana holds primaries, not cacuses. See below.

***

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are speaking two hours apart tonight at the Mansfield-Metcalf Democrats Dinner in Butte, Montana. Obama's speech has already concluded.

“I know that there’s some people who have been saying that these caucuses — the caucus states out West with these small populations, they don’t really count all that much,” Obama said in a thinly veiled reference to Clinton.

“I don’t know about you but I think they’re pretty important,” he said to loud applause. “I think it’s important to note that we have seen record number of Americans who turned out for us in Idaho, and in Wyoming, and in Utah, and in Colorado.”

It's not just the size of the states, it's their composition that's the point. There is no chance Montana, Wyoming, Idaho or Utah will go Democratic in November. (More...)

In Oregon today, Hillary Clinton explained why the FL and MI votes count:

"Some say their votes should be ignored and the popular vote in Michigan and Florida should be discounted. Well, I have a different view," Clinton said at a rally here. "The popular vote in Florida and Michigan has already been counted. It was determined by election results, it was certified by election officials in each state, it's been officially tallied by the secretary of state in each state, and the question is whether those 2.3 million Democrats will be honored and their delegates seated by the Democratic party."

...Both states saw record turnout in their primaries and the former first lady won both contests.

5,000 Oregonians came out to see her at one stop.

And Helen Thomas weighs in, arguing Hillary should hang in there: [More...]

Florida selected 27 delegates for the Democratic Convention today.

Of the 27, three will go to the Convention not pledged to a candidate: Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller and House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber. The other 24 were allocated based on the statewide results from the January 29th Presidential Primary: 14 pledged to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and 10 pledged to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

In May, the delegation will be completed with 40 at-large delegates. In March, 121 delegates were elected at the Congressional District-Level. Florida has 23 unpledged delegates ("superdelegates") - 13 Members of the Democratic National Committee and 10 Democratic members of Congress.

By Big Tent Democrat

A new North Carolina poll:

Democrat Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton 35 percent to 26 percent among likely voters in North Carolina's May 6 Democratic primary. But nearly four in 10 are still undecided. . . . Among likely primary voters, the two virtually split the support of white voters and women while Obama has a strong -- 59 percent to 7 percent -- lead among African Americans.

This poll seems extremely suspect to me. The undecided number is ridiculously high. The demographics of the expected turnout is not offered. Obam's A-A number are obviously too low (his white numbers seem high as well).

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Who was Trina Bachtel? According to this NYTimes story:

Trina Bachtel . . . die[d] last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio.

This has become a new source for Clinton Derangement Syndrome at an Obama blog because:

By Big Tent Democrat

With Obama's new 50-50 proposal for the Michigan delegation (BTW, I guess the whole deterrence thing is out the window now), it is now fashionable with some Obama supporters to forget that it was Barack Obama who blocked a Michigan revote. This memo from the Obama campaign establishes that Obama did block the Michigan revote: