There are all sorts of scenarios, proposals and appeals concerning Florida and Michigan trying to find an acceptable compromise solution so those delegates can be seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO in Aug. 2008.
Since late March, when Sen. Obama gained a significant lead in pledged delegates, Sen. Clinton started pressing for those states delegates to be seated, even though, she said in Oct. 2007, that Michigan vote won’t count for anything.
Those Scenarios ranging from 100% penalty reduction that was imposed by DNC RBC to 50% penalty proposal to 50-50 split to 69-59 split and so on.
However aside from DNC RBC ruling, all other proposals ask for a full vote for superdelegates. That’s not fair for the voters of those two states. They will be punished for something that’s not their fault and the ones that created this mess are scattered free.
So what solution is fair, just and takes into consideration all parties involved?
And the answer is simple:
Seat the pledged delegates of MI & FL with 1/2 vote each on a 50-50 split among the 2 candidates, and the superdelegates should have no vote at all.
This solution should be the one implemented for many reasons, and here are some of them:
- It is fair for all the states and territories that adhere to DNC rules and followed them.
- It is fair for all the voters that were told these primaries won’t count and therefore did not vote.
- It shows that rules should be followed; otherwise they lose their effectiveness and lead to a chaos in the primaries and caucuses. What happened if every state wants to move their primary to Jan. or even Dec?
- It shows that DNC didn’t yield for the pressure of any candidate's supporters and listened to the American voters instead.
- It sends a message to the other state that rules are to be followed.
- Any other solution that will give Sen. Clinton any advantage will be, strongly, perceived by the American voters as bias against the "Legitimate Nominee" and will be, in my opinion, a big problem for the Democratic Party which will take a long time to recover from, if they ever do.
Let’s ask ourselves some questions and see why this solution even make more sense and should be adopted. And why other solutions are simply rewarding the states that broke the rules.
- Where were the superdelegates when FL & MI moved their primaries to Jan. and the DNC told them they risk losing their delegates being seated at the convention, but went ahead anyway?
- Have the Democrats in those states done all they can to prevent it? Did they tell the DNC that at least they tried? Did they ask for the penalty to be re-considered again before the primaries have begun?
- Why all the attention have focused on FL & MI delegates in late March, when every one including all the candidates knew that FL & MI broke the rules and will lose their delegates to the convention?
- Was there any regular campaign in those states similar to the other states?
- Will the outcome of those primaries be any different if the vote was to be held today?
- Should anyone be rewarded for breaking the rules?
I can think of more questions about FL & MI, but I think you get the idea.
What do you think of this solution?