Comments on: House Dems From Florida Don’t Want Redo?

By: Elisabetta

Elisabetta — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:49:27 +0000

cfpete thanks for bringing balance and truth to the allegations.

Right on, Tully. If dems are upset for ‘losing’ all their delegates, they should take it up with the DNC that made the rules and changed the penalty and very possibly will change the rules, again. What a spectacle of a party!

By: Tully

Tully — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:18:14 +0000

Echo on the “the GOP did this” comments from cfpete. No, everyone did it. The GOP delegation is paying the traditional half-delegate penalty without whining and bitching about it. The DNC changed the penalty to full-delegate for Florida in retaliation for the FL Dems not buckling under to them. IOW, they did this to themselves. They tried to game the primaries and it went the exact opposite of what they wanted.

I’ve been following this mess since it first started, back in August 2006. I’ve said all along that it was a stupid move that could backfire big-time. Well, I wuz right.

By: cfpete

cfpete — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:05:22 +0000

Yes,
Swatty it does.
It also deals with third party voter registrations, municipalities moving their elections to coincide with the moved primary, the resign to run law, and write-in candidates.
However, the original bill dealt solely with moving the presidential primary and all other issues were added in committee or as amendments.
The original bill passed unanimously through two committees and again passed unanimously through two committees after the amendments were added. At no time, did any Democrat ever vote against moving the primary date while the bill was in committee.
The Senate version of this bill S0960, which was later replaced with the House version, was actually co-introduced by a Broward County Democrat.

My criticism is that narrative being introduced is that the Florida Republicans did this entirely on their own.
The truth is that Florida Democratic legislators, the leaders of the State Party, were never opposed to moving the primary and were more than just innocent bystanders.
They were involved in this from the beginning and wanted all the perks and privileges of being the first big State primary.
They wanted all the Presidential candidates to come and schmooze them with promises of federal money and federal appointments.
They wanted Clinton, Edwards, and Obama begging for their endorsement.
We are talking about the fourth most populous state in the nation, a swing state, that could have played a huge role in picking the Democratic nominee. It still played a fairly lage role picking the Republican nominee even with only half the delegates.
Florida Democrats tried to call the bluff of the DNC. They never thought the DNC would actually disenfranchise such a large State. A State that will still play a large role in picking the next President of the United States.

By: Swatty

Swatty — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:37:52 +0000

>>>The bill that moved up the election (CS/HB 537) passed in the Florida Senate 37 to 2 and gained final passage in the House 118 to 0.<<<

Didn’t this same bill also contain changes in provisions about requiring paper ballots or creating some kind of paper trail?

By: H Kissinger

H Kissinger — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:30:47 +0000

This is no surprise. The democrats will go for Clinton Big time and essentially what would happen is guarantee a gridlocked convention. This is something the entire Democratic party is working feverishly behind the scenes to avoid.

Now that the GOP has come to their senses and are no longer wanting to dethrone Hillary in favor of Obama the crossover vote might give hillary a 150 to 50 win in delegates in that state. As we all know that the old people, hispanics and loyal democrats vote for Hillary enmasse.

In fact this is not a surprise at all and Im sure that Obama and company have been in Florida from day one trying to convince the Floridians not to redo this as has Hillary been there trying to get them to redo it.

The fact that Hillary is going to lose the nomination by around 150 votes…..votes that she will have lost from Florida and Michigan is going to be a huge black eye on this party. They know it.

IN fact the day they made this decision I screamed NO. The fact is that everyone thought that Hillary was the nominee so why waste the time.

By: BenG

BenG — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:13:36 +0000

Roger,

So how do u really feel? As an old NY/NJ’er I can’t imagine how pissed-off I’d be if my state govn’t did that to me- and all you complain about is out-of-staters whining?
How could u be mad at the folks in your own party when the state Repubs manipulated the opposing party’s primary process. Sounds like something they do in far away S. American dictatorships. I’ve heard u guys are turnin into a third world country, so now u should thank your Repub. leaders for making that a reality.
I’m not a Hillary fan either, but why do we keep letting the bad guys get away with this stuff and then squabble over the wreckage? Just think of all the time n effort your taxes paid for just to sabotage your vote.

By: cfpete

cfpete — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:15:38 +0000

Hey Justin,
Before writing about Florida, why not do some research?
The bill that moved up the election (CS/HB 537) passed in the Florida Senate 37 to 2 and gained final passage in the House 118 to 0.
Translation, the Democrats in the Florida legislature, the duly elected leaders of the State Party, had no problem supporting the move of the primary. Infact, why not ask the 7 Democratic co-sponsors of the bill how much they supported moving the primary.
Also, being from Florida and having a memory that lasts longer than five minutes I can tell you that the Democrats wanted the added clout of an early primary just as much as the Republicans. Now if you want to come back and blame this solely on the Republicans, while relying on people’s short attention spans, well that’s just fine, dishonest, but fine.
Florida tried to call the bluff of the RNC and the DNC and the Florida Democrats lost. The DNC could have done the same thing as the RNC and we would not be having this conversation, but they didn’t.
Florida legislators, and Floridians I might add, wanted the extra power and promises of federal money afforded to early primary states.
All we got was another New Yorker wintering here.
Sometimes you win sometimes you lose, get on with life and stop whining about it.
Florida is growing, those politicians that ignore or perturb the State in the future do so at their own peril.

By: Roger - Kissimmee

Roger - Kissimmee — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:10:13 +0000

People in Florida did not go to the polls to cast a check mark for their favorite Democratic Candidate as they knew it was just a beauty contest. They went to the polls to vote for or against Property Tax Reform (lowering of property taxes). We all knew the primaries did not matter.. So I do not want to hear that Florida is upset that their vote doesn’t count. I do not want to hear that it’s the Democratic National Committee that is to blame, when it’s our own Governor Crist and the state Run Republicans who voted to move the Date, knowing the consequences to doing this.

The Republicans do not want to run against Obama. They want to run against Hillary. The reason, Obama can out perform their candidate in raising cash, can steal independents and moderate republicans, and he and his campaign really have a way of bring out the vote. Hillary on the other hand, will ensure that the Republicans Vote, because of their distain for the Clintons. She also hasn’t proven herself as a good manager of her campaign and her fund raising really hasn’t been what it ought to be.

For those voters who state they will vote for McCain I say to them this. Do it. There is a good chance, you all are Hillary Voters, and frankly she already knifed her party in the back by telling you to vote for him if she doesn’t win. So DO IT.

For those voters who state they will become independents. DO IT. That way you have no say in any primary. Independents cannot vote in Democratic or Republican Primaries.

Stop Whining.. You are all starting to sound like a bunch of old New Yorkers. Oh I forgot, you area a bunch of old New Yorkers. Never Mind…