Florida has 185 pledged delegates and 25 superdelegates who face not being seated at the convention for holding a renegade primary; Michigan has 128 pledged delegates and 28 superdelegates. The DNC's credentials committee meets this summer but as the contest isn’t over yet, it's still not clear which candidate's representatives will be in control of the committee. After all, the credentials committee's seats are allocated through a formula linked to the candidate's performances in the various states. If the committee winds up being controlled by Hillary Clinton this means she has a delegate lead and the Florida and Michigan delegations will be credentialed. In this case she most likely already has the nomination sewn up and no fight will occur as it will not make a difference. But what in the case she doesn't have the nomination sewn up but manages to get a majority on the committee? Then all hell brakes loose...
If Barack Obama controls the credentials committee and he has the nomination sewn up, the Florida and Michigan delegations will be allowed in as well. If the fight's still on however and "his" committee is given the opportunity to deny Sen. Clinton the Michigan and Florida delegates that could put her over the top, that blocking move will without doubt occur.
The DNC would thus most likely try to avoid a food fight like this as it could only serve to harm the party and its unity. That's why Howard Dean has signalled he wants the contest to be wrapped up by April.
According to some sources the Democratic National Committee is now starting to pressure Michigan and Florida to hold Democratic presidential caucuses so the number of delegates they’ve lost by holding renegade January primaries can be seated at the national convention.
DNC member Debbie Dingell has said the DNC is asking both Florida and Michigan to consider such a plan. Meanwhile Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski has announced they have no intention of holding another election.
Sen. Clinton won both the Florida and Michigan primaries. Sen. Obama was on Florida’s ballot but pulled his name from Michigan’s ballot. Given this outcome it's very unlikely that Clinton would favor holding caucuses because these could very well negate any advantage in "delegates" she got out of the renegade primaries as Obama is doing very well in caucuses and is no longer the dark horse candidate he was January. That is of course if these renegades get seated. Plus with regards to Michigan, a part of the "uncommitted" delegates could very well be Clintonista's. There's no guarantee that all of these will back Obama. So she has nothing to gain by resetting and redoing Florida and Michigan whereas Obama has only to gain from it. That’s why I think Clinton will do her utmost to prevent such a scenario.
Personally, I think Florida and Michigan’s delegations should not be seated. They knew the rules and willingly broke them. They need to pay the price. If you’re part of a party you adhere to its rules or pay the penance. Is the way this contest is organized in need of some thorough revisement? Yes! But don’t change the rulebook in the middle of the play. That’s not very honest.
So, now I ask the question what to do with Florida and Michigan?