Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Florida and Michigan

For people who haven't been following up on the news:

Florida and Michigan decided early on to ignore the DNC rules and hold their primaries whenever they felt like it. They moved up their primaries so that they could be in the spotlight. The DNC punished them by discounting their delegates.

210 delegates from Florida, 156 from Michigan. As you can imagine, residents of the two states are annoyed.

Some people argue that the F&M votes should count, especially Clinton supporters - Clinton won both primaries by a large margin. However, people should remember that Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan...and neither candidate campaigned a single second in Florida! So, the fact that Clinton won, means nothing. If F&M's votes were to count, the two candidates would have to campaign there, wasting time, money, and resources. Ultimately, there would most likely be a close tie, perhaps even in Clinton's favor. But the fact is, if 366 more delegates are added into the mix, and Obama can claim 183 of them...he has the nomination. Because that's how far he is from winning. Even if that doesn't happen, Obama and Clinton would both move up, the gap wouldn't get much smaller, and we'd be where we are today.

So, it wouldn't allow Clinton a chance EVEN IF F&M voted. But they won't vote. Why? Because they broke party rules, and to pardon them now for no reason other than that Clinton wants them pardoned simply makes no sense. The democrat of '08 is Obama. The only reason Clinton wants votes is to show she's almost as good as he is...maybe vice presidentially good?

1 comment:

Brian said...

What happened: 1/2 of the delegate votes were awarded, Clinton still lost, but became Secretary of State.