Hillary's website posted a news release this afternoon clarifying her position on the seating of delegates from Michigan and Florida at the convention:
"I hear all the time from people in Florida and Michigan that they want their voices heard in selecting the Democratic nominee.
"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.
"I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this.
"I will of course be following the no-campaigning pledge that I signed, and expect others will as well." |
In other words, she's in favor of giving these Democrats a voice. Follow me for a discussion of this, and a reaction from the Obama campaign...
In my previous diary, "Florida doesn't count? Hillary comes through for Florida Dems", I covered the contrast between Barack Obama's statement on 1/17 following his loss in Michigan that "neither the Florida nor Michigan primaries are playing any role in deciding the Democratic nominee", and Hillary's statement that she "also intends to honor her pledge to hear the voices of all Americans. The people of Michigan and Florida have just as much of a right to have their voices heard as anyone else."
Florida's party chairwoman, Karen Thurman, has made it clear all along that Florida will proceed as if the voices of the 18 million Floridians count. According to Marc Ambinder's blogtoday;
Sen. Hillary Clinton pledged today to work to seat Florida and Michigan's delegates at the Democratic National Convention, thereby negating the penalties meted out by the Democratic National Committee.
It's true that the party's eventual nominee will essentially take over the operations of the DNC -- and the DNConvention, so the pledge carries weight.
Clinton acknowledged that not all DNC members would be happy with her pledge and she insisted that she was abiding by an earlier vow not to campaign in Florida.
But Florida Democrats will find out about her kindly disposition through the media, and through the Florida Democratic Party, whose chair, Karen Thurman, thanked Clinton "for her support and commitment to the Sunshine State." Thurman said the party intends to select 210 delegates and 31 alternates and predicts that turnout for next Tuesday's primary will set records. |
Those of you who caught one of Hillary's Florida campaign co-chairs, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, on XM Radio's POTUS 08 channel yesterday know that the Florida Democratic Party is going to conduct the normal post-primary procedures. They're going to select delegates, and these delegates will be ready to go to Denver.
It's been clear all along that once a presumptive nominee is determined, the DNC will extend every courtesy to this presumptive nominee, including soliciting their opinion on the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations, and doing what they can to make the presumptive nominee's wishes a reality. Disenfranchised voters don't take kindly to being slighted, and the party needs every vote it can get this November. Smart politics would support healing the wounds caused by the dispute over the primary dates between the DNC and the states as soon as possible. Hillary's action today is a positive step in that direction.
And the reaction from the Obama campaign to Hillary's announcement today that she'd instruct her delegates to vote to seat Michigan and Florida? Now that it's pretty clear that Hillary will win the Florida primary, all we get is crocodile tears for the disenfranchised voters. Here is the statement from Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe in its entirety, including the whining:
No one is more disappointed that Florida Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party’s standard bearer than Senator Obama.
When Senator Clinton was campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, she made it clear that states like Michigan and Florida that wouldn’t produce any delegates, ‘don’t count for anything.’ Now that Senator Clinton’s worried about losing the first Southern primary, she’s using Florida for her own political gain by trying to assign meaning to a contest that awards zero delegates and where no campaigning has occurred. Senator Clinton’s own campaign has repeatedly said that this is a ‘contest for delegates’, and Florida is a contest that offers zero. Whether it is Barack Obama’s record, her position on Social Security, or even the meaning of the Florida Primary, it seems like Hillary Clinton will do or say anything to win an election. When he is the nominee, Barack Obama will campaign vigorously in Florida and Michigan to put them in the Democratic column in 2008. |
"No one is more disappointed." Yeah, right. We believe you, David.
It seems that all the "disenfranchisement" concerns emanating from the Obama campaign are highly selective. First, we hear about the poor college students in Iowa who won't be back from the holiday break in time to vote. Then we hear about the poor disenfranchised culinary workers. The Obama campaign should have left that one alone- the culinary workers voted for Hillary, and she carried the state.
And there can be no mistaking this one. Hillary is the candidate who is in favor of all democrat's voices being heard in the selection of the nominee. Barack Obama's campaign? All they're doing is trying to convince us, unsuccessfully in my case, about how disappointed they are that millions of Democrats in Florida and Michigan were disenfranchised.
The Obama campaign can't keep its story straight. First, they claimed that Michigan primary didn't count. Then they decided it DID count, and John Conyers and other Michigan Obama supporters suddenly appeared to persuade voters to vote "uncommitted". It didn't work. Hillary won anyway, and they went back to their "Florida and Michigan play no role in the selection process" mantra.
Well, the Obama campaign has clearly seen the writing on the wall in Florida, because they're strongly in the disenfranchisement camp again. And with good reason. In my diary earlier this week, I looked at the crosstabs in a recent Florida poll, which showed Obama losing by 33 points.
The notable parts of the crosstabs? Obama's polling at 9% among Hispanics, and among voters aged 65 and older. NINE PERCENT. That's fatal in Florida. Florida is over 20% Hispanic, and we have a few old people down here, too, so it's pretty easy to see why the Obama campaign isn't on the pro-enfranchisement side of this issue. It's just not convenient.
Well, it's nice to at least know that Obama might support the voter's right to be heard if it's in his favor. That counts for something, I guess. Thanks for nothing, Barack.
It makes a difference how you treat people. It looks like Florida's Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, will endorse Hillary early next week. Maybe that had something to do with Hillary's support of the right of Florida Democrats to be heard. Nelson said two weeks ago that how the candidates treat Florida would have an influence on his endorsement. Looks like it did.
Obama got nowhere in soliciting endorsements from Florida's congressional delegation. Solidly in Hillary's corner are Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings, and Kendrick Meek. It makes a difference how you treat people.