Hillary Clinton's campaign received 2,000 complaints from Texas voters about the states' caucuses. Her campaign asked Texas to double-check the signatures to make sure those who participated were entitled to do so.

Today, the Texas Democratic Party refused her request.

Hillary won the primary vote but with 41% of caucus results counted, Obama led 56 percent to 44 percent.

Obama campaign response:

"Our campaign agrees that the best way to capitalize on the incredible enthusiasm and hundreds of thousands of new voters who participated in the precinct conventions on March 4th is to count their votes promptly and accurately. We look forward to continuing to work with the Texas Democratic Party to ensure that happens."

As for transparency, forget about it. The State Party says:

There is no plan at this time for the party to provide a statewide count of those regional convention results.

Barack Obama today told war veterans he won't lower the drinking age.

Army veteran Ernest Johnson, 23, of Connecticut, said one of the things that peeved him before he turned 21 was that he couldn't come home and drink a beer _ even though he was old enough to serve in the armed services and die for his country.

Obama told Johnson he sympathized, but that setting the legal drinking age at 21 had helped reduce drunken driving incidents and should remain.

As I noted here, more states are considering lowering the drinking age. Sounds like Obama has fallen for the myths about underage drinking.

The issue of what will happen with Florida's Democratic primary voters has not been settled by the decision not to hold a new election.

Attempts are still underway to have Florida delegates seated in accord with the Jan. 29 primary results.

Clinton’s spokesman Singer responds: “Today’s announcement brings us no closer to counting the votes of the nearly 1.7 million people who voted in January. We hope the Obama campaign shares our belief that Florida’s voters must be counted and cannot be disenfranchised.”

On the Fox News Channel, Gov. Crist once again calls for the party to “do the right thing” and seat the delegation as-is in Denver — voted in by a record-breaking turnout.

That's the right solution. Also, on CNN an hour or so ago, before the spin doctors came on, a reporter who had spoken with Florida Democratic Party Chair and Congresswoman Karen Thurman said she told him that all options had not been exhausted -- or even explored yet-- and that efforts were ongoing to find a solution acceptable to both campaigns.

From Ms. Thurman's letter today: [More...]

The Florida Democratic Party has rejected a plan for a new primary.

In an e-mail sent to Florida Democrats late Monday afternoon, state party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said, "We researched every potential alternative process -- from caucuses to county conventions to mail-in elections -- but no plan could come anywhere close to being viable in Florida."
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Thurman said the decision now falls to the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again next month.

Thurman says the consenus of the thousands of e-mails was that Floridians don't want to vote again.

Of course they don't. More than 1.7 million Democrats already voted and they chose Hillary. They want their vote to count. And it should. The DNC is the culprit here. They need to retract the penalty and award and seat the delegates in accordance with the January 29 vote.

Update: A must-read primer on the Florida primary battle by Mary Beth at Wampum.

Update: Comments now closed, new Florida thread here.

By Big Tent Democrat

(Speaking for me only)

Via Ben Smith, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm puts Obama on the spot - proposes legislation for the Michigan revote.

It is basically a carbon copy of the existing primary legislation with dates changed to accomodate the proposed June 3 revote date. The one major exception is the amendment to Section 613(a)(2). It provides that on April 17, the State Treasurer will certify the amount of funds raised for the primary and if that amount is less than 12 million dollars, then the primary will be cancelled. That should satisfy any concerns about Michigan having to pay for the primary. Proposed Section 624(h) provides the authority for the State Of Michigan to receive contributions to pay for the revote. Apparently, no new entity was deemed necessary to receive such funds. One last section of particular interest, Section 615 would require voters to affirm that they did not vote in the Republican primary. According to exit polls, 7% of the participants in the Republican primary identified themselves as Democrats. McCain won those Dems by 41-33.

Florida Dems blow it:

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Last week, I exchanged views with Mark Schmitt on my view that Clinton needs MI/FL revotes to win the nomination.

Today, we discover that Obama is blocking the MI revote plan and Clinton has embraced revotes in FL and MI. Perhaps Mark Schmitt is right that revotes end the uncertainty and thus Clinton's chances for the nomination. But it seems clear that neither Clinton or Obama seem to believe that.

Don't get me wrong. Pols are pols, and if their situations were reversed, I feel confident their positions would be reversed on revotes for Michigan and Florida. But there is no doubt that revotes favor the Democratic Party and its chances in November. And that is what I care about. Not to mention the principle of enfranchising the voters of Florida and Michigan. Not a small thing either.

The controversy over Barack Obama's pastor is not dying down yet. As I write this, Google News has more than 1,200 articles on it.

Conservative writer Bill Kristol got his facts wrong this morning.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church has issued a strong statement condemning the media's characterization of his entire career by using a few soundbites. It compares the media treatment of Wright to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

The American economy is spiralling downward. The latest convulsions on Wall Street are the big stories driving the news cycle. One consistent finding in the polling is that Hillary Clinton, no doubt benefitting from the economic performance of the country during her husband's Presidency, is favored on the issue of the economy.

In Pennsylvania, her advantage over Barack Obama is a whopping 26 points (60-34) on the economy. Besides other concerns in the Obama campaign, the reemergence of the economy at the top of the news becomes the latest concern, politically speaking. Of course I do not doubt both candidates are greatly concerned about the American economy. But there is no doubt that Clinton currently holds the public's confidence on that issue, while Obama has yet to gain it. The next five weeks could be bumpy for the Obama campaign, especially if the economy continues its tumble.

A few days ago, when writing about Barack Obama's recent interviews with staff members of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times about his involvement with Tony Rezko, I quoted this segment of the Chicago Sun Times interview:

Is Rezko still a friend? "Yes,'' Obama said, "with the caveat if it turns out the allegations are true, then he's not who I thought he was, and I'd be very disappointed with that.''

And it's that friendship, Obama said, that probably kept him from realizing it was a mistake to enter into a real estate deal with Rezko.

"Probably because I'd known him for a long time, and he'd acted in an aboveboard manner with me," he said. "And I considered him a friend. ... It's further evidence that I'm not perfect.''

Obama had a 17 year friendship with Rezko but never saw any signals or flags that Rezko might be unsavory, to put it politely.

Now we have Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years, the man who married him, baptized his children and whose sermons he attended as a member of the Church. Obama was so taken with one of Wright's sermons he titled his book "Audacity of Hope" after it. But Obama now says he had no idea about the inflammatory nature of Wright's sermons that came to light this week and he never attended any. [More...]

Cleveland's United Church of Christ is under investigation by the I.R.S. and could lose its tax exempt status because of a speech Barack Obama gave there last year.

But the stakes in mixing religion and politics can be steep for religious institutions, which risk their tax-exempt status if they become too partisan.

Ask the United Church of Christ. The Internal Revenue Service is investigating whether the Cleveland-based UCC engaged in political activity by sponsoring a 2007 speech by Obama on faith and politics.

Tax-exempt organizations like churches cannot participate in campaigns. [More...]

Who is doing the negative campaigning? Peter Daou, Hillary's internet communications director, points out in an e-mail to bloggers, it's Obama, not Hillary:

Senator Obama and his senior campaign officials have engaged in a systematic effort to question Hillary's integrity, credibility, and character. They have portrayed her as someone who would put her personal gain ahead of the lives of our troops, someone who would say or do anything to win an election, someone who is dishonest, divisive and disingenuous. They have adopted shop-worn anti-Clinton talking points, dusted them off and unleashed a torrent of unfounded character attacks against her.

Peter provides these illustrative examples:

• "Disingenuous"
• "Too polarizing to win"
  
• 'Divisive'
• "Untruthful"
• "Dishonest"
• 'Calculating'
• "Saying and doing whatever it takes to win"
• "Attempting to deceive the American people"
• "One of the most secretive politicians in America"
• "Literally willing to do anything to win"

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

While we are being told by the usual suspects that Obama is a shoo in for the nomination, this article tells a different story:

Sen. Barack Obama is trying to air his dirty laundry -- even some items that might appear just a little wrinkled -- as he prepares a full assault on Sen. Hillary Clinton over ethics and transparency.

Hardly the approach of someone who has wrapped up the nomination. Perhaps this explains it?