The Real Story About The MI and FL Dem Delegations

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:13:06 AM EST
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a TPM e-mailer:

Nothing Hillary says can actually browbeat her rivals, so nothing she says now has any direct bearing on whether those delegates are seated or not. As you said, there's little doubt that delegates from FL and MI will be seated in one way or another. If Hillary wins without them, she'll seat them. If Obama wins by an ample margin, he will play generous and seat them. If he wins by a narrow margin, some other process such as caucuses will be ginned up to seat pro-Obama delegations. So why did Hillary raise the question at all?

I speculate that she raised it for one purpose only - to heighten the profile of the Florida Dem primary on Tuesday. Hillary will almost certainly lose SC today . . . She wants the FL win, not the SC loss, to be what resonates through the echo chamber during the week leading up to Super Tuesday.

More....

So how does she shift the media's focus to Florida? Partly by reminding them that her delegates may be seated after all. . . . FL Dems are paying attention. The larger their turnout on Tuesday, the more attention the media will pay. If their turnout rivals or even exceeds GOP turnout, that in itself will be a story, further amping up coverage of the Dem results - and Hillary's presumed big win. . . .

Precisely. And for the record, I said this last night in my critique of TPM - that they were missing the REAL story here.

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The Real Story About The MI and FL Dem Delegations | 12 comments (12 topical)

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Yes (none / 0) (#1)
by TheRealFrank on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:36:35 AM EST

The Clinton campaign has been trying to draw attention to Florida last week. First they came up with Obama's national ad running in Florida too, and now this.

It makes sense for them to do this, of course, since Clinton is polling some 20 (or even more) points ahead there, so they want the result to be reported in the media.

So far, it seems like they're having limited success, but perhaps the seed will have been planted.

: Plant the seed... (none / 0) (#3)
by oldpro on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:43:54 AM EST

then you water it.
If it's a big win, I'd look for Hillary to stop off in Florida ASAP to thank the voters and draw the coverage. The press covering her isn't going to ignore it.

if true, good for her! (none / 0) (#2)
by Judith on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 11:38:30 AM EST

Back to the future? (none / 0) (#4)
by noodles on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 12:05:34 PM EST

I can't for the life of me figure out why any progressive would want the Clintons back on office for a third term; other than an an awesome economy (which I admit I benefited from) the eight years of the Bill & Hillary co-presidency brought us decidedly anti-liberal policies. Rather than looking back at the past with rose-colored glasses maybe we need to remind ourselves of what happened back then:

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act - The federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses.
Communications Decency Act - Criminalized "indecent, but not obscene" speech.
Telecom Reform Act - Eliminated major ownership restrictions for radio and television groups.
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act - Limited welfare funds to no more than 24 consecutive months and no more than 60 months over a lifetime.
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) - Had a tremendous impact on the law of Habeas Corpus in the United States by limiting the power of federal judges to grant relief
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - Allowed states and the Federal government to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages. Bill Clinton's pre-signing statement on DOMA, "I have long opposed governmental recognition of same-gender marriages and this legislation is consistent with that position."
Waco Siege - A fiasco that ended with the death of 74 people. A month-long fiasco that ended with the deaths of more than 80 men, women, and children. This was the deadliest government action taken against American citizens on U.S. soil since the Civil War.
Extraordinary Rendition - Clinton authorized the kidnapping and transport of persons to foreign countries to be tortured. Refer to the ACLU Fact Sheet on Extraordinary Rendition at www.aclu.org/safefree/extraordinaryrendition/22203res20051206.html
Regardless of how your feel about Bill "getting a little" on the side, the way he humiliated Monica and tossed her under the bus by calling her a liar wasn't gentlemanly particularly when you consider the fact that Monica adored and idolized Bill.
Controversial pardons and commutations signed on final day in office.

: What does that have to do (5.00 / 3) (#5)
by spit on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 12:16:28 PM EST

with FL and MI delegates?

: Ot (none / 0) (#6)
by Big Tent Democrat on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 12:21:49 PM EST

Normally I would delete, but I will just warn you this time.

The Dems better already have a candidate (none / 0) (#7)
by DA in LA on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 01:20:21 PM EST

Picked by a decent margin when the convention rolls around, because they are looking at a train wreck.

Many people are already baffled by the "superdelegates" and if they seat the FL and MI delegates after saying they wouldn't - and it is a factor in choosing the candidate, they are in a lot of trouble.

Disenfranchised voters are not a good thing

: Well (none / 0) (#8)
by Big Tent Democrat on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 01:22:25 PM EST

they will almost certainly.
This is just about spinning the news cycle.

What I don't understand (none / 0) (#9)
by Stellaaa on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 01:36:54 PM EST

with all the symbolism from 2000 of the people in Florida not having their votes counted, why did the DNC do this? Does not make sense.

because sometimes, in (none / 0) (#10)
by cpinva on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 01:44:16 PM EST

a fit of pique, very smart people say/do very stupid things.

........why did the DNC do this?

the old "cutting off your nose to spite your face" trick, so famous in song and story. of course they're going to seat those delegates, does anyone seriously doubt that?


: How about letting SCOTUS decide? (none / 0) (#11)
by oculus on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 01:53:10 PM EST

It's bad this year (none / 0) (#12)
by DA in LA on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 02:01:43 PM EST

But should cause change for 2012. Michigan has been complaining loudly and threatening to move their primary for 8 years. They finally did so, and paid the price. In the end, it will be good for everyone because the controversy should create some sort of rotating primary by regions.

Of course, SHOULD is a big word in politics.