There's a lot of discussion in the Democratic camp about what to do with the Michigan and Florida delegates. Clinton and her supporters, unsurprisingly, are arguing they should be seated. Obama supporters point out the DNC rules were violated, both states were told their delegates would not count, and they opted to move their primary dates up anyway ... why reward bad behavior.
Clinton got most of the delegates in both states, and given the constraints one can see why - with no one campaigning in either state name recognition was always going to be the deciding factor, and given how early both primaries were held (which is what led to this issue in the first place) her name recognition was still far higher than Obama's. Further, her name was the only one of the leading candidates to appear on the ballot in Michigan. Of course she won, and of course she now wants those delegates, since without them she's likely to lose.
On the other hand, there is a point that the will of the voters in those states should count too ... after all, it's not the voters who decided to move the dates up. Furthermore, with the Obama camp arguing that super delegates should adhere to the will of the majority of general primary voters, it would be inconsistent to not include the will of those who voted in these two populous states.
Sooooo ... let's have a do-over.
There's time. The Democratic National Convention is not until late August. There is plenty of time to pick a date in, say, late July for both states and schedule primaries for them, primaries which would count. Heck, given the state of the race the two primaries would probably be more influential for being held late in the season rather than early. There would be plenty of time for both campaigns to gear up advertising and re-create whatever ground operations they need there.
No, time isn't an issue. Money is the issue. My guess is it would cost something on the order of $30 million to hold new primaries in both states. So, ask both campaigns to kick in $5 million (or, perhaps, since Obama has more money available at this point, maybe $6.5 million from him, 3.5 million from Clinton), have the DNC contribute $5 million, and the states foot the rest.
If the states aren't willing, then say to hell with them - they knew the penalties, and their votes don't count.
Politics, mostly national, some AZ, and whatever else hits my fancy.
About Me
- Sirocco
- I work as a software researcher. My political views are on the liberal side of the fence. Like many people, I consider myself an expert on all subjects, but in reality I am adequate in some, abysmal in most.
4 comments:
The state pay for the rest? The people of those states have already paid for primaries. If the issue was on the RNC side, would you want the public to pay for their screw-up?
If they want a "do-over", have the DNC, the campaigns & the State DNC pay for it...not the public.
When I said "state" I was referring to the state party.
I doubt the state party has that kind of cash.
sorry, that my comment was so snide, my Windows Vista updated in the middle of the night & turned off my wireless internal modem & sound...
They likely don't have it on hand, but I suspect they could raise it if it meant having their votes tallied.
Otherwise, like I said, I am in the "screw them" camp. The rules were known, the punishments were known, and they opted to not play by the rules anyhow. You can't then magically turn around and count the votes after all.
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