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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. In Florida, a frustrated Democratic Party chairwoman Karen L. Thurman sent a letter announcing the decision. "A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled...

Breaking on Fox now.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida Democrats won't go forward with a plan to redo the presidential primary with a mostly mail-in vote. The plan to have the party run a second primary in an effort to seat the state's delegates at August convention was abandoned Monday after party leaders expressed concerns about the proposal.

SCRANTON, Penn. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton Saturday said she supported a plan being developed by Michigan Democrats to hold a new primary in June. "It needs to get resolved and hopefully Michigan by the end of this week will have done that," Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane between stops in Pennsylvania. "I think they are moving in an appropriate direction to have a revote." Under the plan being finalized by several Democratic members of Congress and other party leaders in Michigan, the state would hold a new primary in early June — most likely on June 3...

Despite their apostasy in holding early primaries in defiance of the powers that be in the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Michigan and Florida both deserve to have do-over primaries. It is ludicrous to suggest that their current delegations should be seated and equally inappropriate to disenfranchise the nation's fourth- and eighth-largest states. The obvious and only fair solution is to hold do-over primaries. In Michigan, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's name did not even appear on the primary ballot. He obeyed the national rules and pulled out of the contests, while N.Y. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton chose to keep her name...

For a moment, it looked like party leaders were marching toward a Florida revote. But Obama's campaign signaled today that the mechanics would be an obstacle, and Florida's congressional delegation just took a hard line against a re-vote in a joint statement: Washington, DC – The Members of Florida’s Democratic Delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives issued the following statement regarding the seating of Florida’s delegates at the DNC National Convention this August. “We are committed to working with the DNC, the Florida State Democratic party, our Democratic leaders in Florida, and our two candidates to reach an expedited...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Democratic Party leaders are finalizing plans for a new primary vote in Florida, bypassing the state Legislature and elections officials, WPLG-TV political reporter Michael Putney learned on Tuesday.A high-ranking source in Miami said the party is a day or two away from announcing a detailed plan for a vote by mail.The election would be organized and run by the Democratic Party, with ballots going out as quickly as possible to be returned by late May or early June. Florida election officials told WJXT that they had not heard about this development, but if the party ran its...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's campaign has concerns about the possibility of Florida and Michigan holding a Democratic presidential vote by mail, the candidate's senior strategist said Tuesday. Democratic leaders in the two states are considering a mail-in election to allocate delegates to the Democratic National Convention between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Democratic National Committee will not seat delegates chosen by primaries held in January, earlier than allowed under party rules. David Axelrod, Obama's senior strategist, told reporters Tuesday that the campaign is reserving final judgment until a plan is offered. "But obviously there are concerns about a mail-in...

Saint Paul, Minn. (AP) -- Attorneys for U.S. Senator Larry Craig are asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to correct a "manifest injustice" by allowing the Idaho Republican to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from an airport restroom sex sting. In court papers filed Tuesday, the lawyers asked the appellate judges to reverse the trial court's decision to let stand Craig's guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge. They also asked the court to vacate his plea. Craig was arrested in June in a restroom stall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a broad sweep targeting men soliciting sex. An...

The debate over what to do about the Florida and Michigan delegates continued to rage on over the weekend with the the talking head shows weighing in with their .02. I think Hillary is actually gaining some momentum with her case for either seating the delegates as they stand now from the original primary votes, or holding a new vote to determine how many delegates each candidate will get. Obama is reluctant, I think, because he stands ahead at this point in the delegate count, and perhaps feels that he wouldn’t win in FL and MI. Hillary, you remember, won...

WASHINGTON - A consensus began to emerge Sunday that the best way to give Florida's Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president lies with the U.S. Postal Service. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of all their convention delegates — a total of 313 — for holding their primaries too early, making both contests meaningless. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both states, but no delegates. Her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, did not appear on Michigan's ballot. But the disqualification of Florida and Michigan has created a headache for the Democratic party due to...

Fla. And Mich. Should Get A Second Chance To Make Their Votes Count Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean said this morning he is hopeful that Michigan and Florida can work out do-over nominating contests. "I would prefer that their delegates are seated in some way, but that way has to be within the rules that everybody agreed to...And I think they will," Dean told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "The states have got to come before the DNC with a plan, or else decide to appeal their exclusion to the credentials committee. When they make those decisions, then we're going...

NBC News has learned that New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is willing to raise money to pay for a "redo" of both the Florida and Michigan primaries. Both states voted for Hillary Clinton. Corzine and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, [both strong Clinton supporters] have agreed to make the offer to help foot the bill for a redo. Rendell told NBC's “Meet The Press” Sunday that he and Corzine are writing a letter to the Washington Post offering to raise half of the estimated $30 million needed. A source close to Corzine confirmed on Friday to make the offer and...

Dean Suggests Ballot-By-Mail For Florida Who Would Pay Still In Question POSTED: 1:57 pm EDT March 9, 2008 WASHINGTON -- A consensus began to emerge Sunday that the best way to give Florida's Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president lies with the U.S. Postal Service. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of all their convention delegates -- a total of 313 -- for holding their primaries too early, making both contests meaningless. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both states, but no delegates. Her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, did not appear on Michigan's...

WASHINGTON - A consensus began to emerge Sunday that the best way to give Florida's Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president lies with the U.S. Postal Service. The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of all their convention delegates — a total of 313 — for holding their primaries too early, making both contests meaningless. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both states, but no delegates. Her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, did not appear on Michigan's ballot. But the disqualification of Florida and Michigan has created a headache for the Democratic party due to...

In 2000, the Democrats in Florida fought to keep out military absentee ballot sent in by mail from determining who would be the next President. Eight years later, Florida Democrats want to conduct an entire primary by mail. What’s changed? Oh, yes — their own incompetence: [T]he disqualification of Florida and Michigan has created a headache for the Democratic party due to the unexpected closeness of the race between Obama and Clinton. Officials from both states are trying to figure out how best to resolve the issue before the national convention in August.DNC Chairman Howard Dean said a mail-in primary...

If the Democrats have some form of "do over" election for Florida and/or Michigan, it presents a problem. Although it can be said that since the first election votes didn't count, voting again isn't actually voting twice in the primaries. However, particularly in Michigan, Kos and others were actively pushing Democrats to cross over to sabotage the Republican process. Democrats who did cross over ALLREADY had their votes counted in a valid election. Will they now be allowed to vote a second time? This would violate the rules of both parties and establish a precedent for being able to vote...

WASHINGTON - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged Florida and Michigan party officials to come up with plans to repeat their presidential nominating contests so that their delegates can be counted. "All they have to do is come before us with rules that fit into what they agreed to a year and a half ago, and then they'll be seated," Dean said during a round of interviews Thursday on network and cable TV news programs. The two state parties will have to find the funds to pay for new contests without help from the national party, Dean said. "We...

Mitt Romney is down, but he might not be out. Romney suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday, and has endorsed John McCain for the GOP nod. But Romney’s son Josh says it’s “possible” his father might rejoin the race as a candidate for vice president or for president if McCain’s campaign stalls. Romney hasn’t commented publicly about a recent New York Times article that implied McCain had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist. McCain and the lobbyist have firmly denied the allegation, but subsequent reports have contradicted some of McCain’s...

Hillary's just declared a mulligan in her part of the global war on Islamonazi terror. *** Not a word on military strategy. Not a whisper on possible consequences. Just a great deal of thought to the political tactics necessary to beat leftward in the primaries in order to meet the unexpectedly strong challenge from Senator Obama.