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WASHINGTON – Taking a vacation to Washington, D.C., next week? Want to give Democrats a piece of your mind?
The Democratic National Committee has just sent out an advisory of how its Rules & Bylaws Committee will proceed on May 31 during a much-anticipated meeting to reconsider issues in the Florida and Michigan delegate flap. Included are instructions for members of the public who want to attend.
According to the notice, the rules committee will meet at a Washington area hotel and consider two challenges – including one from Jon Ausman, a national committeeman from Florida.
The two challenges are seeking to overturn the rules committee’s decision to strip Florida and Michigan of their presidential delegates.
Both the Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigns will apparently also have a chance to state their cases during the meeting, which the notice today says will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
The advisory says, “each challenger (including Ausman) will be entitled to present an Oral Argument before the RBC prior to Committee consideration for a period of 15 minutes each.”
“A representative from each state party and from each presidential campaign will also have an opportunity to address the committee regarding each of the challenges,” the notice explains.
“Oral arguments from the parties will be heard during the committee’s morning session. Following a lunch break, committee members will consider and debate the challenges,” the notice says.
In a sign that the DNC is expecting a big crowd for the meeting, members of the public wishing to attend are being required to register on-line starting at 10 a.m. next Tuesday. here. Those lacking Internet access who would like to pre-register can do so by calling 202-479-5137.
Democrats in Florida and Michigan were punished last year by the national party with the loss of all of their delegates because their states scheduled presidential primaries too early, in violation of national party primary calendar rules.
Hillary Clinton went on to win both primaries, but none of the candidates actively campaigned in either state and Barack Obama’s name was not even on the Michigan ballot.
Clinton, who trails Obama in the Democratic presidential delegate tally, has been saying her victory in Florida’s Jan. 29 primary should count for some delegates and she has not conceded the nomination, even though he has clinched a majority of the delegates from other states.
The Obama campaign has said that anything other than completely eliminating Clinton’s advantage – in other words, splitting the Florida and Michigan delegates between the two—is unfair.
He contends the Florida primary wasn’t fair because the candidates, even though they were on the ballot, didn’t campaign here.
I heard Hillary Clinton’s speech in Boca Raton and found it appropo. Floridians represent a big chunk of our electorate and deserve to weigh in on the primary race. And the national media has been reporting that it was the state party that scheduled the January 29th date, when it was actually the state legislature. Why do they keep misstating that? And isn’t there another election on Aug. 26th where a re-vote can be taken? This election seems to be more about making Sen. Obama feel comfortable than it is about picking the best person for the job and ensuring everyone’s voting rights. How much more absurd does it get?
I changed my party affiliation last December to “No Party Affiliation.” I was a lifelong Democrat. I will vote for the best candidate (or the lesser evil as it usually is) regardless of party affiliation, as I have always done. I just read on another news source how ugly Democrats can be by their comments regarding Florida. Mr. Obama appeared hesitant and uncomfortable during the first part of his speech, probably because he and Ms. Clinton share the same opinion of Florida as the very vocal members of the party who say, To hell with Florida!”
About the vote counting in FL and MI, here’s the evidence that Clinton pledged along with the others to not count those votes:
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Posted by Diann Helnore, Belvidere, IL 61008 on 05/23 at 09:27 AM
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama signed agreements not to campaign in the two states. this agreement had nothing ot do with counting the cast and registered votes. Only Senator Obama broke th erules and ran 1.4 million dollars worth of Ads in Florida. He bought some national ads that played in Florida, and Clinton didn’t. He alone broke the rules, Clinton did not, and he lost anyway. Obama purposely took his name off the ballot in Michigan because he knew that he would lose there.