So Hillary's argument is: those delegates should be seated because voters should not be disenfranchised.
Fine.
Obama's argument is: seating those delegates would give Hillary an unfair and unearned advantage since there wasn't even a contest and Hillary can't rewrite the rules.
Fine.
My question is: couldn't this be solved with the help of the uncommitted delegates, superdelegates and Edwards delegates?
- Give Hillary her share of pledged delegates in MI and FL.
- All MI uncommitted delegates and the Edwards delegates in FL should vote for Obama, with Edwards' permission of course.
- Enough superdelegates should support Obama in both states to create a draw.
This would produce a result identical to the result if no delegates were seated but Hillary couldn't claim that her voters were disenfranchised and noone would break the rules.
As far as I know Edwards delegates and uncommitted delegates have the right to vote for Obama. Superdelegates certainly have the right to vote for Obama.
Now we also have problem with the idea of superdelegates deciding the election. It just doesn't sound democratic.
Given the unique circumstances in FL and MI I say that superdelegates outside of those two states should support the candidate who has the most pledged delegates after Puerto Rico -- excluding the pledged delegates from MI and FL.
Assuming of course that no candidate will have a decisive lead in the pledged delegate race by the time Puerto Rico votes.
Keep in mind that both excluding FL/MI and including them as if they had been just like the other states would doom the party's chance to win in November.
Dems have to come up with a solution that gives Hillary what she wants without making it look like that we have another, well, Florida but this time without 5 assholes on the SC.
The record shows the more divided the party, the more likely it is to lose in November.
As Dean observed, there have been three divided Democratic conventions in recent decades -- 1968, 1972 and 1980. Democrats lost each time.
http://edition.cnn.com/...
We have to find a solution which respects both the rules and the voters.
We could level the playing field in MI and FL without ignoring the pledged delegates so why not try this?
What do you think?