Posted on 03/14/2008 6:53:18 AM PDT by jdm
Michigan’s Democratic Party has almost reached an agreement with the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns for a do-over primary in Michigan. The state would run the vote along with a referendum election that had already been scheduled, but will use privately-raised funds to pay for the rerun. The cost? Perhaps as much as $12 million:
Michigan Democrats are close to an agreement with presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to hold a do-over primary.
Party officials and the campaigns negotiated on Thursday, and state Democratic leaders were hopeful that an agreement could be reached on Friday, said Democratic officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. To go forward, any plan would require the approval of the two campaigns, the Democratic National Committee, state party leaders and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is backing Clinton.
Michigan Democrats need to act quickly because the politically divided legislature will have to sign off on the deal and approve how to spend the privately raised funds for a new election. Members of the Democratic-controlled state House and Republican-controlled state Senate leave at the end of the month on their two-week spring break.
The contest must be held by June 10 for the results to count under DNC rules. Michigan currently has an election set for May 6 for voters to decide on education issues. The date of that contest could be changed to accommodate a new presidential primary.
Michigan originally had 156 delegates, but the DNC stripped them of their entire slate as punishment for breaking scheduling rules. Michigan wanted to have more influence over the nomination process and moved itself ahead of Super Tuesday, but would ironically has been much more important afterwards, as it turns out. The question of resolving the status of Michigan and Florida has consumed Democrats as it has become apparent that no resolution to the primary will result in the status quo.
Unlike in Florida, where all candidates remained on the ballot, Hillary was the only major option for Michigan voters. She won the original vote over “uncommitted”, 55%-40%. These results simply can’t be seriously considered without having given voters an explicit option for choosing Obama rather than Hillary. Michigan has to re-do their vote in order for a delegate split to have any credibility. That’s not necessarily true in Florida, although Obama now complains that the campaign ban imposed by the DNC hurt him more than it did Hillary, which is only credible if people think she’s a better campaigner than he is.
At the moment, Hillary trails Obama by 131 delegates overall and 161 among pledged delegates. She needs to win Michigan and probably has a good chance of doing so. She has carried states with high percentages of working-class whites, such as Ohio, and Michigan fits that mold. If she can win Michigan and force the DNC to accept a delegate split based on the first Florida vote, she could wind up gaining 30-40 delegates. That won’t cut into Obama’s lead too deeply, but combined with a streak of wins in the Rust Belt, she could get close enough to make a case for a superdelegate win in Denver.
heh.....heheheheheheh....
Geez, I wonder how these two Presidential Candidates, who can’t negotiate within the boundaries of the United States of America, are going to serve as POTUS?
One thing for sure, if one of them get’s elected we are going to see some real deviseness in the Country.
Watch out for the return of the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and the Brothers of Islam.
What do you want to bet they hold the “privately funded” election BEFORE they raise the funds?
What would you bet that they NEVER raise the “private” funds — never even make an attempt — and stick Michigan taxpayers with the bill?
Look at what lengths the democrat party machine is willing to go to to stop a Black man from actually winning the nomination! Re-vote! LOL!
Pass the popcorn
I also, think that once the legislation is put in place, a lawsuit will be filed to try and stop it.
The Michigan Mulligan!!
Time will tell — hope you’re right!
If the Democrats were too stupid to vote correctly the first time, what makes them think they can get it right the second, or third, or forth, or f............................
CNN had three panelists on, plus a host, yesterday afternoon. They were primarily focusing on Florida, but even their liberal guests said that a party that can’t run it’s own primary can’t be trusted to run the country.
And what about the republican voters who voted in the republican primary, but they wanted to vote in the democrat primary, will they be allowed to withdraw their vote and vote in this primary?
And what about all the voters who are not democrats, and they did not vote in the previous vote, will they be allowed to vote this time?
You are reading my mind. The party leaders want the rubber stamp vote of the black people in this country but I think they are finally realizing that there is a price to pay for that allegiance.
The black community is learning an important lesson in this election cycle and that is that they have the political punch to pick their own man. That is not the way it has been traditionally in the Democratic Party where the black vote has been had for a pittance. No longer.
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