national committee member
Mich. DNC member says 69-59 delegate plan flawed
by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]
LANSING, Mich. — A top Clinton supporter in Michigan said Thursday the state Democratic Party's plan to split the convention delegates between Hillary Rodham Clinton... 
Posted May 29th, 2008 8:45 PM by Syndicated
Clinton calls for gas tax vote, Obama calls it 'shell' game
by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]
MUNSTER, Ind. — Hillary Rodham Clinton called for a vote Friday in the Democratic-controlled Congress on a summertime suspension of the federal gasoline tax, a...
Posted May 3rd, 2008 2:59 AM by Syndicated
A Palatable Compromise Out of Michigan?
by Jonathan Singer [courtesy of MyDD]
CNN has the story:
Michigan's Democrats have released another new proposal yesterday in their quest to ensure their state will be represented at this summer's Democratic National Convention.Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Sen. Carl Levin, Democratic National Committee Member Debbie Dingell and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger - the working group that has been meeting to try to end the impasse -- sent a letter to state party chair Mark Brewer Tuesday in which they urged the Democratic National Committee to seat the Michigan delegation under a formula that would give a 10-delegate edge to Hillary Clinton.
Clinton was the only major candidate to appear on the ballot in the state's January contest, which she won with 55 percent of the vote. No delegates were awarded because of national party penalties on Michigan Democrats for moving up their primary date. Forty percent of January's primary voters chose the "uncommitted" option on the ballot; a majority of those "uncommitted" delegates are backing Barack Obama.
Clinton's campaign has said that the results of the January vote - which would give her an 18-delegate edge, 73-55 - should count. Obama's campaign had said the delegates should be split evenly, 64-64.
Posted April 30th, 2008 12:50 AM by Syndicated
Democrats Fear Tight Obama-Clinton Finish Could Damage Party's Chances
by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]
WASHINGTON — For all their delight in soaring voter registration and strong poll numbers, some Democrats fear the contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary...
Posted March 29th, 2008 3:42 PM by Syndicated
Getting MI out of the way
by Jerome Armstrong [courtesy of MyDD]
On FL & MI:
As Clinton's camp calls for counting the January results, Obama's campaign has rejected them, arguing that the contests in Florida and Michigan were invalid because both candidates had agreed not to campaign in the two renegade states. Obama's name wasn't even on the Michigan ballot.
From Obama's perspective, the status quo is fine. Lumping together FL & MI as being invalid, and then saying that Obama wasn't on the ballot, is a strong argument. Actually, that's an incorrect frame. Obama was on the ballot in MI, he then voluntarily took himself off of the ballot, his staff having engineered a backroom deal with the other candidates to discount the state (and Clinton) ahead of the IA and NH contests; regardless, it serves as a good trump card for Obama to say 'I wasn't even on the ballot' in MI to also shut it down on FL. The Clinton camp isn't going to let FL votes count as half, and that's a good move. The last thing we need is re-instituting the memory of certain individuals having less than a one-vote one-person share. The Obama argument against Florida, on its own, carries little weight, so what the Clinton camp needs to do, is take MI off the table.
Also, note this:
Democratic National Committee member Jon Ausman has filed a separate appeal to the DNC's rules and bylaws committee, saying the DNC doesn't have the authority to bar the state's superdelegates and asking the committee to ease its punishment by restoring at least half of the state's delegates.
That would seem to stand up, as the superdelegates are in no way tied to the results of their states. Posted March 17th, 2008 12:35 PM by Syndicated
