No Re-Vote In Florida Primary

March 17, 2008 · Filed Under Politics, U.S. News

From the AP:

Facing strong opposition, Florida Democrats on Monday abandoned plans to hold a do-over presidential primary with a mail-in vote and threw the delegate dispute into the lap of the national party. While the decision by Florida Democrats left the state’s 210 delegates in limbo, Democrats in Michigan moved closer to holding another contest on June 3. Legislative leaders reviewed a measure Monday that would set up a privately funded, state-administered do-over primary, The Associated Press learned.

Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen L. Thurman sent a letter announcing the decision.

“A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it’s simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the party were to pay for it,” Thurman said. “… This doesn’t mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again in April.”

Members of Florida’s congressional delegation unanimously opposed the plan, and Barack Obama expressed concern about the security of a mail- in vote organized so quickly.

The national party punished Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates to the party’s national convention this summer in Denver. All the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in the two states, and Obama was not even on the Michigan ballot.

It really shows what a political opportunist and hypocrite Hillary Clinton is in regards to the Florida and Michigan delegate mess. Prior to the vote in Florida and Michigan, Hillary thundered from the campaign trail that “rules are rules” and those two states should have to suffer the consequences.

She ended up winning both primaries and now she’s adamant that those delegates must be seated and she must be declared the winner! It’s like something a 10-year old would do. Why in the hell is Obama’s campaign not running commercials all over the country highlighting this fact?

Had Obama won the two primaries you can be sure Hillary Clinton wouldn’t give a rip about seating those delegates. What’s even more outrageous is that she’s demanding that Michigan be called a victory for her even though Barack Obama wasn’t even on the ballot!

It just seems like such easy ammunition to throw at her buy the Obama campaign, but maybe people are so used to the Clinton’s doing anything to win that it’s not really all that surprising.

-Chris Jones