Comments on: Florida To Do A Mail-In Revote? http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:03:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tully http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393164 Tully Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:58:10 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393164 The bill to set the primary date in Florida passed the legislature near-unanimously (FL House unanimous, FL Senate two Republicans voted against). IOW, the GOP isn't to blame. The FL and MI state Dem parties did NOT agree with the DNC's decision to jump Nevada and SC up in line. It was forced on them. The DNC was trying to gain advantage with the assumption that they could establish a front-runner and campaign without opposition while the GOP nominees beat each other up. Oops! Worked the other way around. It was a stupid thing for Dean/Reid and Company to do, and I predicted this exact problem when they did it 18 months ago. Repeatedly. Often. Noisily. The FL and MI state parties were fully prepared to accept the customary and traditional half-delegates penalty for what they did, a rule that's held for forty years. The full delegations normally get seated at the convention anyway, because the nominee is USUALLY settled before the convention and the extra delegates don't make any difference, so the credentials committee can be generous and welcome them back into the fold. But this time the DNC decided to REALLY retaliate against the upstarts and changed the penalty to an ALL-delegates penalty AFTER those primaries had been scheduled. And this time, those votes and delegates in those states DO make a difference. If they seat the delegates it can affect the outcome. If they don't seat them they disenfrachise their own party base in two of the biggest states. No-win. The DNC created this mess for themselves. The damage is already done--the eventual nominee will end up being picked in back-room horse-trading by those ultimate insiders, the superdelegates. Do-overs are just an attempt to obfuscate that. If they change the state outcomes, they destroy the overall credibility of the primaries. If they don't change the outcomes, they leave the state parties triumphant and the DNC looking like weak spineless weenies. No-win. The bill to set the primary date in Florida passed the legislature near-unanimously (FL House unanimous, FL Senate two Republicans voted against). IOW, the GOP isn’t to blame. The FL and MI state Dem parties did NOT agree with the DNC’s decision to jump Nevada and SC up in line. It was forced on them.

The DNC was trying to gain advantage with the assumption that they could establish a front-runner and campaign without opposition while the GOP nominees beat each other up. Oops! Worked the other way around. It was a stupid thing for Dean/Reid and Company to do, and I predicted this exact problem when they did it 18 months ago. Repeatedly. Often. Noisily.

The FL and MI state parties were fully prepared to accept the customary and traditional half-delegates penalty for what they did, a rule that’s held for forty years. The full delegations normally get seated at the convention anyway, because the nominee is USUALLY settled before the convention and the extra delegates don’t make any difference, so the credentials committee can be generous and welcome them back into the fold.

But this time the DNC decided to REALLY retaliate against the upstarts and changed the penalty to an ALL-delegates penalty AFTER those primaries had been scheduled. And this time, those votes and delegates in those states DO make a difference. If they seat the delegates it can affect the outcome. If they don’t seat them they disenfrachise their own party base in two of the biggest states. No-win.

The DNC created this mess for themselves. The damage is already done–the eventual nominee will end up being picked in back-room horse-trading by those ultimate insiders, the superdelegates. Do-overs are just an attempt to obfuscate that. If they change the state outcomes, they destroy the overall credibility of the primaries. If they don’t change the outcomes, they leave the state parties triumphant and the DNC looking like weak spineless weenies.

No-win.

]]> By: wj http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393155 wj Sat, 08 Mar 2008 16:50:18 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393155 amyem, For openers, the Florida Democrats could have refrained from co-sponsoring the legislation to move the primary. It might have moved anyway. But they would get more sympathy if they hadn't been prominently involved in moving it. amyem,
For openers, the Florida Democrats could have refrained from co-sponsoring the legislation to move the primary. It might have moved anyway. But they would get more sympathy if they hadn’t been prominently involved in moving it.

]]> By: TerenceC http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393134 TerenceC Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:10:19 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393134 It's not my party I'm an independent..however, things like this aren't new apparently......"I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.".....Will Rogers It’s not my party I’m an independent..however, things like this aren’t new apparently……”I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.”…..Will Rogers

]]> By: axt113 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393125 axt113 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:26:19 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393125 Florida and Michigan are to blame for this mess, if they had played by the rules they would have been a big factor in the primary, but they screwed themselves over, now they need to fix their mess Florida and Michigan are to blame for this mess, if they had played by the rules they would have been a big factor in the primary, but they screwed themselves over, now they need to fix their mess

]]> By: amyem http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393107 amyem Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:45:34 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393107 What were the Florida dems supposed to do? The GOP-controlled state legislature decided to move the primary day. Why can't every state vote on the same flippin' day? What were the Florida dems supposed to do? The GOP-controlled state legislature decided to move the primary day. Why can’t every state vote on the same flippin’ day?

]]> By: Jim S http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393095 Jim S Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:08:00 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393095 I still put more blame on the egotists of Florida and Michigan than the DNC. Will any state go along with a realistic attempt to fix the broken primary/caucus system? Can a majority of them come up with a way to eliminate the sway of the unrepresentative states of Iowa and New Hampshire? I'm not sure anyone is desperate enough even after the mess this year has been. I still put more blame on the egotists of Florida and Michigan than the DNC. Will any state go along with a realistic attempt to fix the broken primary/caucus system? Can a majority of them come up with a way to eliminate the sway of the unrepresentative states of Iowa and New Hampshire? I’m not sure anyone is desperate enough even after the mess this year has been.

]]> By: Rob http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/comment-page-1/#comment-393086 Rob Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:28:39 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2008/03/07/florida-to-do-a-mail-in-revote/#comment-393086 <blockquote>The DNC should be ashamed of themselves</blockquote> What exactly did the DNC do wrong?

The DNC should be ashamed of themselves

What exactly did the DNC do wrong?

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