Why Obama is Lukewarm on a New Florida Election
Posted on Wed Mar 05, 2008 at 05:57:30 PM EST
Tags: Florida 08 (all tags)
Despite Big Tent Democrat's five posts on Florida here today, not all has been said.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's campaigns are now okay with a second Florida primary:
Now the Clinton campaign has begun expressing openness to a do-over. "Let's let all of the voters go again if they are willing to do it," said Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe Tuesday night on MSNBC. "Whatever we have to do to get people in the system, let's do it."
Obama's campaign says it would participate if one is decided upon by the Party, but is not going to do anything to make it happen. It sounds decidedly luke-warm on the prospect:
It makes sense Obama would be only luke-warm to the idea. Just look at the results from the Florida primary, a scant 5 weeks ago. He won only the northern counties closest to Georgia and the deep south. He won no county below the top of the state. [More...]"We're going to abide by their rules as they exist now and whatever happens in the future," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters Wednesday.
"I don't think it's for our campaign or her campaign — we're in a heated contest here — to have to be the facilitators here," Plouffe said. "This is between the DNC and those state parties."
In addition to the counties Hillary won, here are some statistics, according to her campaign:
- Hillary will end up with more votes than John McCain.
- She won women, men, and just about every age category. She won the youth vote.
- She won 6 in 10 Latinos and nearly 3 in 10 African American voters.
- More than 1.5 million Democrats voted today, more than twice the number of voters in the 2004 primary.
- Among those who decided on Election Day, a plurality of those chose Hillary.
I think Obama has much more to lose than Hillary if there's a new Florida election and his response shows he knows it.
My view remains there is no need for a new Florida election: The first one should count. The voters spoke. Hillary and Obama were both on the ballot. Floridians turned out in record numbers.
So the candidates didn't personally campaign in the state. Floridians weren't living in caves and had full access to numerous televised debates and news of the candidates campaigning in other states.
Florida didn't move the election up to beat Iowa or New Hampshire. The state's Republican dominated legislature forced it on them. It was the DNC who penalized the Florida Dems because the party wanted Iowa and New Hampshire to go first. The DNC was wrong.
It's evident from the high turnout in the Florida primary -- 1.7 million Democrats voted in a primary that was not open to Independents-- that Floridian Democrats came out in record numbers. They voted early, voted absentee and voted on their primary day. In all, 4 million voters voted on Jan. 29, 41% of all registered voters. That's a huge percentage for a primary.
Hillary got 871,000 votes, 49.8% and Obama got 576,000 votes, 32.9%. The Florida delegates should be awarded consistent with those votes. They should be counted. No new elections.
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