- Feb 7, 2005
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http://www.mlive.com/newsflash...storylist=michigannews
Clinton wants Michigan, Florida delegates to get convention seats
1/25/2008, 3:30 p.m. ET
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton wants delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated at this summer's Democratic National Convention.
Although the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates as punishment for moving up their presidential primaries, Clinton said Friday that she plans to ask her convention delegates to support seating the delegations.
"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election," she said in a statement, adding that it's important that "we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention."
She added that she respected the position of her delegates from other states who may not vote to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates.
The New York senator also called on her Democratic rivals to make the same pledge.
David Plouffe, campaign manager for Barack Obama, said Clinton's move was just a political ploy.
"No one is more disappointed that Florida Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party's standard bearer than Sen. Obama," Plouffe said in a statement.
"When Sen. Clinton was campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, she made it clear that states like Michigan and Florida that wouldn't produce any delegates `don't count for anything.' Now that Sen. Clinton's worried about losing the first Southern primary, she's using Florida for her own political gain by trying to assign meaning to a contest that awards zero delegates and where no campaigning has occurred."
Florida has 185 pledged delegates and 25 superdelegates who face not being seated at the convention. The state holds its presidential primary on Tuesday.
Michigan, which held its primary Jan. 15, has been stripped by the DNC of its 156 delegates and its hotel rooms for the Aug. 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
But Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer has said all along that he expects the party's eventual nominee to ask that the delegates be seated.
Although there's no guarantee that Clinton will be the nominee or that other states' delegates will honor her request, he called her support for seating the delegates "very welcome news."
"We did expect in the end we would be seated, based on historical precedents of these types of sanctions being lifted in the past," he said Friday. "No candidate is going to commit political suicide by not seating Michigan."
A request for comment on Clinton's statement was left Friday afternoon with the John Edwards campaign.
Clinton was the only major candidate on the Democratic ballot in Michigan's primary. She ended up winning 55 percent of the vote, while 40 percent went to Uncommitted.
Most of the voters who chose uncommitted backed Obama or Edwards, who pulled their names from the ballot to avoid angering Iowa and New Hampshire, which didn't like other states crowding to the front of the election calendar.
The Michigan Democratic Party had planned to fill its 128 pledged delegate spots even after they'd been stripped by the Rules Committee. Brewer said he'll figure out how they'll be apportioned as soon as the election results are official. The party also has 28 superdelegates, most of them not pledged to a specific candidate.
Michigan Republicans have been stripped of half of their 60 national convention delegates for holding their primary Jan. 15. But the party still allocated all 57 of its 60 delegates based on the primary results, with 45 going to Mitt Romney, 10 to John McCain and two to Mike Huckabee. The GOP also has three unpledged delegates.
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I assume she wouldn't have done this if she hadn't won MI and had such a big lead in the FL polls, but that's like saying you shouldn't decline a roughing the passer penalty if you scored a TD on the play. Ok, that's not a great analogy, but I do wonder what Obama/Edwards would have said had they been in her position in such a tight race.
In related opinion, I don't like the way the primaries are set up with IA/NH getting all the love and I think it needs a shakeup. FL/MI are trying to do that and got smacked down for it. Maybe next time around the DNC will look at alternative primary methods instead of punishing those states trying to CHANGE, which everyone says they want.
Clinton wants Michigan, Florida delegates to get convention seats
1/25/2008, 3:30 p.m. ET
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton wants delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated at this summer's Democratic National Convention.
Although the Democratic National Committee's Rules Committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates as punishment for moving up their presidential primaries, Clinton said Friday that she plans to ask her convention delegates to support seating the delegations.
"I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election," she said in a statement, adding that it's important that "we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention."
She added that she respected the position of her delegates from other states who may not vote to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates.
The New York senator also called on her Democratic rivals to make the same pledge.
David Plouffe, campaign manager for Barack Obama, said Clinton's move was just a political ploy.
"No one is more disappointed that Florida Democrats will have no role in selecting delegates for the nomination of the party's standard bearer than Sen. Obama," Plouffe said in a statement.
"When Sen. Clinton was campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, she made it clear that states like Michigan and Florida that wouldn't produce any delegates `don't count for anything.' Now that Sen. Clinton's worried about losing the first Southern primary, she's using Florida for her own political gain by trying to assign meaning to a contest that awards zero delegates and where no campaigning has occurred."
Florida has 185 pledged delegates and 25 superdelegates who face not being seated at the convention. The state holds its presidential primary on Tuesday.
Michigan, which held its primary Jan. 15, has been stripped by the DNC of its 156 delegates and its hotel rooms for the Aug. 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
But Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer has said all along that he expects the party's eventual nominee to ask that the delegates be seated.
Although there's no guarantee that Clinton will be the nominee or that other states' delegates will honor her request, he called her support for seating the delegates "very welcome news."
"We did expect in the end we would be seated, based on historical precedents of these types of sanctions being lifted in the past," he said Friday. "No candidate is going to commit political suicide by not seating Michigan."
A request for comment on Clinton's statement was left Friday afternoon with the John Edwards campaign.
Clinton was the only major candidate on the Democratic ballot in Michigan's primary. She ended up winning 55 percent of the vote, while 40 percent went to Uncommitted.
Most of the voters who chose uncommitted backed Obama or Edwards, who pulled their names from the ballot to avoid angering Iowa and New Hampshire, which didn't like other states crowding to the front of the election calendar.
The Michigan Democratic Party had planned to fill its 128 pledged delegate spots even after they'd been stripped by the Rules Committee. Brewer said he'll figure out how they'll be apportioned as soon as the election results are official. The party also has 28 superdelegates, most of them not pledged to a specific candidate.
Michigan Republicans have been stripped of half of their 60 national convention delegates for holding their primary Jan. 15. But the party still allocated all 57 of its 60 delegates based on the primary results, with 45 going to Mitt Romney, 10 to John McCain and two to Mike Huckabee. The GOP also has three unpledged delegates.
*****************************************************
I assume she wouldn't have done this if she hadn't won MI and had such a big lead in the FL polls, but that's like saying you shouldn't decline a roughing the passer penalty if you scored a TD on the play. Ok, that's not a great analogy, but I do wonder what Obama/Edwards would have said had they been in her position in such a tight race.
In related opinion, I don't like the way the primaries are set up with IA/NH getting all the love and I think it needs a shakeup. FL/MI are trying to do that and got smacked down for it. Maybe next time around the DNC will look at alternative primary methods instead of punishing those states trying to CHANGE, which everyone says they want.
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