The underlying message all along has been to redefine the Democratic party by ousting Clinton.  The truth of the matter is that Florida won't go to Obama, no matter what.  He performs very poorly with seniors, Latinos, and Jewish Dems.  Therefore, he's not going to worry about it.  He's not going to worry about the voters who view his candidacy as illegitimate, either.  The average person doesn't follow stories like this so closely.  And Dean's insider group is determined to grab the power from the Clintons.

Obama will not reach the 2,025 magic number on May 20. Rather, on that date he is all but certain to hit a different threshold--1,627 pledged delegates, which would constitute a winning majority among the 3,253 total pledged delegates if Florida and Michigan are not included

There will be an Obama wing of the party and all the rest of us.

I have now come to the point where I no longer think of myself as part of any party that has anything to do with Obama. Howard Dean, Donna Brazille, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi.

Politicians always do this though... they look for loop holes and angles that favor their agenda.

And they say Obama isn't a typical politician.

The message it sends - and states in no uncertain terms - is that we, the voters, only count insofar as we can supply him with delegates - otherwise, we are a waste of time.  Great.  That makes me feel ever-so-confident that as president, Obama would actually give a tiny rat's a$$ about us.  What will be his special metric then?  

Well, no worries - I think it will be academic, as I expect Obama to spend the next 2 years writing a book blaming everyone AND the kitchen sink for his crushing loss in November.  

As far as declaring victory, he shouldn't do it.  At all.  

As for the memo send out by his campaign, I thought it was a boneheaded move more likely to antagonize super delegates than persuade them.

I might take the time to point out that three other states moved up their primary without punishment. That included South Carolina.

I might tell you that nothing in the rules allowed the Party to strip them of all delegates.

But it would fall on deaf ears.

Bottom line, Democrats used to be a party that fought for civil rights. Among the most important is suffrage. Hell, we saw first hand the cost of giving that right (W's presidency.)

And why would the DNC RBC forgo the punishment listed in their rules and instead disenfranchise the people? Oh thats right, because the Dems have decided that they don't need to care about the people or issues because they believe it is enough just to not be Repubs. They could have chose a punishment directed at those responsible and that kept voters enfranchised but this was so much easier.

Clearly someone has run the calculus and doesn't think there will be blowback from disenfranchising two large states. Maybe they're right. Really only Florida is competitive for McCain, and the media will do their best to make Florida voters' disgruntlement all their own fault, as the media has in past elections.

He does not care about Clinton's voters or the "old" electoral map.

He does not care about democracy or principles like fairness or justice.

He does not care about even the appearance of legitimacy.

In other words, he is not a Democrat.

And he doesn't get my vote, and won't get the Independents' votes either. Nothing will prevent him from a spectacular flameout in November.

Thanks for nothing and f**k you, Democratic Party.

Better Ayers blows up before he's the confirmed candidate than after the convention.

Then he should proceed to start talking to Clinton's voter's, asking them for their vote in November should he win the primary, as expected. He should put out position papers about where he stands on issues that are important to them and promote them daily. He should make them want to vote for him, instead of letting his bully supporter's tell them that they have to vote for him in order to oppose McCain.

In short: Obama should stand up an present himself as a winner instead of continuing to act like a streetfighter who got in a lucky punch on the the local champion and now has to spend all of his time looking over his shoulder out of fear that a fair fight is on the way that might cost him his win.

right now the only thing keeping MI from being seated is Hillary and the DNC saying yes.

The point of the exercise, from the standpoint of the frontrunner and presumptive nominee, is to end the race as quickly as possible.  Under existing rules, until the RBC and/or Credentials Committee decides otherwise(and that won't happen until May 31st at the earliest), there are a grand total of 4049 delegates out there, of which about 3254 or so are pledged delegates.   Winning a majority of those pledged delegates is a very big deal.  In all likelihood, when that number is reached, a large number of superdelegates will come out in support of the pledged delegate winner, probably enough to equal or exceed 2025, half of the legally recognized delegates at that point.  At that point, since FL and MI's status is yet undetermined, the frontrunner is essentially the presumptive nominee.

Which brings us to FL and MI.  If you're the frontrunner, and it's extremely important for the general election and otherwise to bring the nomination race to a swift and decisive conclusion, why give your opponent a chance to steal the nomination away from you?

If Obama came out today and said, "I will accept FL and MI delegations as voted", the following things would happen:

1. the media narrative would shift--"Does Clinton now have a real chance to win?"
   
2. Clinton would have a real incentive to go negative on Obama, in an effort to eke out an upset win in Oregon and try to sweep the remaining contests
   
3. She would go to the superdelegates and say, "See?  Now there's a way I can win, and here's why you should pick me instead!"
   
4. The nominating contest would continue until at least mid-June, costing a month's worth of funds, media, and lost opportunities to define McCain.
   
5. The benefit in terms of MI/FL voters would be outweighed by all of the above, in the mind of the frontrunner's campaign.

On another note, this notion that not counting the MI and FL primaries is disenfreanchment I find historically and currently insulting (think DC).  There is nothing in following the rules that even begins to pass the smell test of what disenfranchement is.

Puerto Rico. Losing by a half million votes and 30 delegates.

Then what? 2012. Exactly what conspiracists have accused Hillary of planning: Dump Obama, take 2012 by storm. Let the elites take their lumps for pushing a green politician into the highest race on the planet. By the time 2012 comes around, the nation will be very very ready for someone capable to take over, not some weasel campaign full of little substance more than lies and dirty tricks.

And, despite the wailings of all the people with the 'Don't blame me, I voted for Obama' bumper stickers on their cars, Hillary will be completely blameless.