[Grammar Nazi]

I wish Wirs had asked what business the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have subsidizing the internal decision-making processes of political parties by running their primaries for free.

[Mark]

Wait! Only 50 states? Not 57? I’m so confused.

[zeestephen]

Grammar Nazi gets it exactly correct.

Political parties should pay for their own primaries.

Once political parties open themselves to taxpayer subsidies, or if the parties actively seek subsidies, then the political parties must play by state and federal rules.

The DNC’s decisions on Florida and Michigan were completely arbitrary.

First, they disqualified all the votes.

Then, they counted half the votes and gave Obama votes he never received.

Clinton has every right to litigate this to the end.

[FredZarguna]

It's actually a clever argument, and I think there may be some traction to it. When the Democrats initially refused to seat any of the delegates, I wondered how Obama would be able to appear on the MI and FL ballots in November. Most states have a minimum qualification requirement, which, though usually pro forma for the major parties could be argued as voided by the Dems refusal to seat any representatives of those states in convention. If this particular argument holds up -- there is no doubt it can't be fully decided before November if it winds up getting legs -- it would be impossible for any major party to impose representation penalties on any state unless the primaries were paid for by the party, which is not bloody likely to happen. In that case, next stop: National Presidential Primary.