FL & MI Delegate Debacle

Thank Heavens! We can all sleep well tonight, as the news media and the DNC have made it extremely well known that a decision will soon be reached on what to do about those poor Michigonians and Floridians who have been deprived of a vote in the primary elections. We may finally see this catastrophe come to a close this weekend, although it is all speculation at this point.

For those of you who are just joining us now, here is a quick overview on what happened with the Florida and Michigan Democratic primaries, we will Tarantino it, and come back to the present day in a just few moments.

The DNC (Democratic National Committee) decides who has their primaries and when. MANY (not all, but many) states have their primaries on Super Tuesday, which was February 5. To have your states primary BEFORE Super Tuesday is like winning lottery for a state. Tons of media coverage, the candidates come to your state and hold rallies. It's basically a ticket to sit at the "cool kids" table at lunch. Historically these early primary states have been Iowa and New Hampshire (yeah... they needed all the help they could get to sit at with the popular kids...), although this year the DNC also added Nevada and South Carolina. Thereby covering all the regions of the US, pretty much.

So what did Florida and Michigan do when they weren't given their ticket to sit with the cool kids? They went ahead and did it anyway, in true rebel fashion. (Note: They voted on whether or not to hold an early primary, knowing FULL WELL what the ramifications were, as outlined by the DNC, and they still did it.) Well the DNC would have none of this and decided to punish the states by stripping them of their delegates and asking the candidates to not campaign in the states. As we all know, being stripped of delegates is pretty much akin to not actually voting as we Americans do not elect our President, our delegates do. Yay democracy.

Barack Obama's name did not even appear on the Michigan ballot, and "uncommitted" got 40% of the votes, not really the signs of a successful election.

According to a CNN article,

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said the states can either come up with a new plan to choose a slate of delegates or appeal to the party's credentials committee when the convention opens in August.

"The rules were set a year and a half ago. Florida and Michigan voted for them and then decided that they didn't need to abide by the rules. When you're in a contest you do need to abide by the rules," he said Thursday on CNN's "American Morning."

So that is pretty much the back story. Now we're going to go back to today, and analyze the newest information. To sum up what the media is saying,

An analysis by lawyers for the Democratic Party says party rules call for Florida and Michigan to lose at least half their delegate strength at the party’s convention in August, an outcome that could close off Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s last opportunity to cut significantly into Senator Barack Obama’s lead in delegates.

And that is according to this New York Times article, from today.

It is just stunning to me that these states would knowingly jeopardize the voice of their voters. If I were from Michigan or Florida, I would be livid. And not at the DNC, but at the officials in my state that decided moving up the date of the primary was a good idea.

But in terms of what this means for the election... Clinton will likely receive the majority of those delegate votes, although with Obama only 51 delegates shy of the necessary 2,026, Hillary has a lot of catch up to do. I honestly don't know how this can even count as a fair election though, especially for Obama. His name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, which I maintain definitely gave Hillary the advantage.

This delegate debacle is finally coming to a close, and I hope all the other states have learned from Florida and Michigan's mistakes, and won't disobey the DNC in the future.