Political Punch

Hey, Obama is more than welcome to pay for it, get his supporters to pay, whatever. He hasn't even offered to help raise the funds at all. Can't blame Hill supporters for ponying up the money as soon as they were asked.
Let him put his money where his mouth is.

The voters in FL and MI need to file a class action lawsuit against the DNC. No one, including King Howard Dean has the right to deny another person their constitutional right to vote. This is not about Hillary or Obama. It is about the fact that we fought a Revolutionary War because of taxation without representation and it is the right of the voters in these two states to have their votes counted. And will someone please get rid of Howard Dean and set up some sort of National Primary day before 2012 so we don't have to go through another election like this one. The Republican administration in FL set the dates and have been laughing at the idiot Dean ever since. And he is an Obama supporter, that is why he won't give the DNC money for the revote.

How in the world do you win a contest when you're the only one in the contest. First of all, Hillary dissed Michigan and Florida by saying that neither of them mattered when she thought that she could win without them. When she started falling behind, all of a sudden she wanted them to count. Hillary, Barack, and Edwards each signed a statement agreeing to the sanctions against Michigan and Florida, which Hillary said she did not care about anyway. The only fair thing to do now is to either abide by the sanctions or split the votes down the middle. I don't even know why Hillary and all her supportors are trying to pretend that she really won those states. They are insulting the intelligence of every voting American. She couldn't care less if this leads to the demise of the democratic party, which it probably will. I for one am a Democrat who will switch parties if Hillary steals the nomination!

The way that Hillary Clinton is acting is disgusting, and a bad reflection on all women. Where is her since of integrity? I mean tell the truth...and the absolute truth is that they ALL SIGNED THE DOCUMENT SAYING THAT FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN WOULD NOT COUNT!!!! and for those states to count now is totally unfair to Senator Obama and Edwards...perhaps Edwards would have won a state and stayed in the race. Besides this Hillary's prior criminal allegations and current trial proceedings should even allow her the oppurtunity to run for president. She is a fraud and is determined to split up the democratic party...and she even had the nerve to ask that man to be "her" vice president, when she is in second place...her nuts are too big for me, I'd never elect her she acts like a schizophrenic nut-case.

Obama is "CHICKEN". He knows he would lose in a primary to HRC in the two states.

Hillary should not allow Obama to be the final arbiter on this revote issue. She won both states.

Simply because the Liberals are running the show now does not mean that they could run over her. Both the MSM and the talking heads have been trying to bury her but she keeps proving that she is tough and the people are on her side. That is why she would win this nomination.

There is more bombshell to come from Tony Rezko, the other half of Obama. Republicans will keep the more damaging videos till the general election.

How in the world do you win a contest when you're the only one in the contest. First of all, Hillary dissed Michigan and Florida by saying that neither of them mattered when she thought that she could win without them. When she started falling behind, all of a sudden she wanted them to count. Hillary, Barack, and Edwards each signed a statement agreeing to the sanctions against Michigan and Florida, which Hillary said she did not care about anyway. The only fair thing to do now is to either abide by the sanctions or split the votes down the middle. I don't even know why Hillary and all her supportors are trying to pretend that she really won those states. They are insulting the intelligence of every voting American. She couldn't care less if this leads to the demise of the democratic party, which it probably will. I for one am a Democrat who will switch parties if Hillary steals the nomination!

Looks like the Political map will look the same in November as it did in 2004. NO CHANGES. So much for the campaign rhetoric of the last 4 months.

congratulations, president mccain.

There can be no arbitrary spliting of delegates. these delegates have been duely elected.

They can be sanctioned
Another vote can be done which they can run in again.
The sanction can be modified (ie half a vote)

Or the sanction can be lifted.

There are no other options.

NO one can arbitrarily decide to assign delegates to any candidate.

It's not possible.

The two states will now appeal to the DNC rules and bylaws committee for their sanctions to be lifted.

If that doesn't work, a motion will be brought to the floor of the convention.

There are no other options.

Yu can't just make up delegate counts for states. Its absurd.

One person, one vote. That's democracy and the people of Michigan and Florida deserve their chance even if party official messed up. But what Senator leaves out in her speeches is alot. The people who are financing the proposed revote in Michigan are all Clinton supporters - and most of them are very, very, very, rich powerful people. Here are some their names: Corzine, Peter Angelos, Bernard Schwartz, Haim Saban, Fred Eychaner. Google them and find out who they are. Many of these people have supported the Clintons for years - with huge donations. Some are the biggest supporters of Hillary's current campaign.

Michigan and Florida deserve a revote - but they do not deserve to be bought out by the Clinton campaign.

There is no reason on earth that an opposing campaign should agree to a re-vote financed by those people. The DNC and the party leadership is responsible for this mess and it may cost them the election in November.

To all the Sen. Clinton supporters who preface their responses with 'if' -

'if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts everytime they hopped'

the morale of the story is 'be careful how you use the word 'if' .....

Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and their minions who blame the Clintons for the lost of control of the House and Senate do NOT want Clinton on the Dem ticket.

Keeping Florida out will clinch the win for Obama.

Clinton should join with Hagel, who recently suggested that the country should start a new political party or run as Independent.

Let the Dems keep their bleeding heart Liberals and Obamatrons.

Just posted at USA TODAY:

"Mich. re-vote plan dies in state Senate"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBAMA 08

I HOPE PEOPLE OF REST OF THE STATES GOING TO PRIMARIES, WAKE UP. and stop this wolf in sheep's clothing.
otherwise i am sure we will have republican president for next 4 years.

NOBAMA ' 08

Let's say the re-vote doesn't happen and I think many people here recognize that MI and FL are key players in the general election. They will need to be seated one way or another or we risk losing the support of these important swing states this November.

What do folks here think about a 51/49 split (Clinton/Obama)?

The difference in delegate count would be almost negligible, it would allow Obama to take the high road in acknowledging that Clinton arguably won the popular vote in both states, Clinton (and the democratic party) should be relieved that MI and FL have representation at the convention and not a penny more would be spent on the issue.

Anyone up to engage in some friendly dialogue?

There will be no caucus in Mi and FL.

The states dont want it. You can't over ride an election with a caucus and Clinton will not and should not ever agree to something so undemocratic and biased towards Obama.

Fl and MI wont allow it anyways. Caucuses are dumb and undemocratic. They shouldn't count for anything.

Cliton always said she would ask for the delegations to be seated and Mr. Obama chose for his own personal political reasons to remove his name from the ballot.

The only thing soviet would be for a central committee to completely over ride a democratic election and arbitrarily award delegates to the candidaye of their choosing. That would be soviet.

The DNC always intended to seat the delegations with a vote at convention.

The only question now is whether or not Obama will ask his delegates to not seat Fland MI and whether or not the super delegates are foolish enough to agree with him. Nut I dont think they are. Nor do I think Obama will ask for them not to be seated.

He is bluffing. Playing poker. He will try to convince people she can't, in an attempt to maintian a big enough delegate lead so that it won't matter.

I think he is going to lose that bet.

"Really bad move by Obama blocking the re-vote when Clinton and DNC approved.

Why is his campaign so against a re-vote?
"

It's not about being against the re-vote, it's about legal issues. I believe it shouldn't be his concern whether it's legal or not. Let the clintons suffer the fallout if laws are being broken. They havent worried about following laws/rules before, shouldnt have to worry about them now.

In a nutshell: He should agree to the revote, she should stop making it seem like he's doing something wrong. Michigan done, learn to follow the rules, Florida pay up for the primary, learn to follow the rules. Superdelegates pick a candidate NOW, learn to be leaders. Then we can move forward. Call it a wrap!

Dog

What Westie and I were getting at is that the Popular Vote is more important than these unelected Party Bosses.

The People in FL and MI should be allowed to caucus and their voices added to the din.

If their leaders screw that up to, THE PEOPLE should rise up and throw the Bums out.

The People of FL have been particularly let down by their leaders. And some these leaders are the same Party Insiders who are responsible for screwing things up.

Obama is betting he can go to convention with a large enough margin that seating MI and FL won't matter.

That would be somewhere around 150 delegates, including supers.

If he cant pull this off, and the poll numbers show that he can't. He has lost the nomination because the delegates will be seated as is and they will vote for the candidate that wnated them there.

My bet is that even obama wont ask for them not to be seated. He can't. Its political suicide.

He has decided to try to spin this to people like JAke, who will believe him that HIllary somehow cant win now.

CAn he convince the voters of Penn, WV, IN, Kentucky, Peurto Rico and NC etc. that she has lost.

Every other time he has tried this it hasnt worked. And he has tried it several times including right after IOWA.

He's trying to spin the math is impossible story again. It wont work.

I believe that this move has just lost the nomination for Obama.

I totally disagree with Jake and think that his blocking the revote in FL and MI has just won Hillary CLinton the democratic party nomination at convention.

Really bad move by Obama blocking the re-vote when Clinton and DNC approved.

Why is his campaign so against a re-vote?

The exit poll numbers speak for themselves and anyone can check them if they want to. 25% of the people voted for Obama, through the uncomitted option. It's not a lie its a fact.

There was no regulation or agreement that candidates take their name off the ballot and it is widely recognized that the Obama camp chose to do this for political purposes.

Now they have to live with this decision.

By the way the DNC has no comment on the 50/50 fantasy being proposed by the Obama campaign. It's not possible.

I'm sure that given the DNC doesn't like to shoot down their own senators in the public press, no comment is pretty close to sorry that's just not possible.

Its not possible.

Now Obama has to live with the consequences of his campaign decisions.

Will he actually ask his delegates at convention to vote against seating MI and FL?

If he does and somehow pulls off the nomination, which is doubtfull, his bid for the white house would be doomed.

They will be seated. Obama lost this. It was a very foolish gamble and he has lost this. It looks very bad for him.

Jake is absolutely correct in covering this story because it is exactly this issue that has the power to split the democratic party for a decade or more. It's that serious. I'm telling you folks I feel so strongly over FL and MI I will gladly aid in this spit because this is about democracy itself. And that's more than worth ripping any single party apart because this is about freedom. The freedom of choice. This is about everything to ask of the rest of the world, chose freedom we ask. And if we do not practice it here at home then we have lost our MORAL right to ask it of any another nation.

Obama has tried to block the Florida and Michigan re votes at every conceivable turn. He makes excuse after excuse as to why he doesn't want them to re vote. We all know the real reason is right now , he would lose both states by huge margins.
So what really motivates Obama about the delegates and popular votes? Not having them counted, that is his only motivation. Oh yeah, and to disenfranchise the votes of 2.7 million people from both states.
Let's see.. he's got Florida, Michigan, and Missouri pissed at him,. A few more states and he is done in the general election.

S.B.,

Please, stop spreading false information.

"Look obama chose to take his name off the ballot in MI for two reasons, a) he knew he was going to lose and b) to pander to Iowa."

How about c) They agreed to remove their names from the ballot.

"He received 25% of the vote according to exit polls, Clinton got 55%"

237,762 people voted uncommitted when they had a clear choice of clinton. That's about 40% of the voters. Not to mention the people that voted for Clinton because they saw no one else they wanted. LOL @ everyone thinking Clinton won Michigan. The fact her name was the only one on the ballot is the best thing that could have happened to her. Had Michigan counted from the Jump, we would have seen a completely different story. In fact, people that wanted edwards would have cut into her votes as well.

"She won Michigan by a landslide."

LOLOLOL!

"There was no rigging, no conspiracy, simply a choice that the Obama campaign made. Neither candidate campaigned there."

SO, why didnt she take her name off the ballot like they decided.

"Clinton always amintained she would ask for the delegates from MI and FL to be seated at convention, and she will."

When she realized she would lose without them. Why sign an agreement and not demand otherwise from the start. Why vote for a war when you didnt even read the NIE. See a pattern?

"It is now up to superdelegate democrats to decide if they can afford to not seat the delegations from Fl and Mi at convention."

The SuperDelegates do need to show some leadership and end this bickering now. If they want to stick with Hill, then do so. Obama, then do so. This bickering is ridiculous.

"My bet is they will be seated. The DNC is in the business of winning elections. They can't win in NOV without both of these states."

AGREED!

"Obama was dumb. Now Clinton gets to go after the uncommitted delegates, instead of many of them being Obama delegates."

Obama followed the rules. Now he should get penalized for that? Unfairness will not bode well for those that see him as a better choice. Bitterness is a helluva drug! I wish people would at least acknowledge that aspect of this whole thing.

"Maybe some of these people have changed their minds after this week and maybe more will change their minds after Clinton starts winning states by 30%, which she will."

Very respectable scenario. Still wont solve the resentment brewing amongst the masses.

"These delegates will be seated, 100% guarenteed."

Most certainly, I only hope people will be able to push their resentment aside for the good of the country.

I bet if both MI and FL agree to substitute their primaries with a Caucus, Obama will jump at it. He is king of Caucuses. He likes guilting liberal democrats to caucusing for him.

Well, I have news for you Obamanites. The general election is all primary-like. No Caucus.

I'm gonna warn the Obama supporters. If Obama does not agree to seat the voters of MI and FL then what LITTLE good will Obama may have here in the Clinton camp will disappear for good. I'm dead serious about that. If you folks want to walk down that road you will lose the Clinton voters forever. And when we go you can count on FL and MI voter going with us in the general. This is not only FL or MI or Clinton's problem but it is also Obama's massive problem and he knows it even if some of you do not.

hmmm let's see, why would Hillary agree to a 50/50 split of the delegates when she won by over 300,000 votes in Florida and she won by a decent margin in Michigan. The DNC will have no choice at the convention except to seat the delegates in accordance with the will of the people from those states.
All this talk of a 50/50 split is the OBama camp's spin to take away the popular vote and majority of delegates from Hillary. Not only is it unfair, it is unethical. Try to tell me OBamabots, if if was reversed and Obama has the same exact leads, would he be proposing a 50/50 slit. Not in a million years, he would be screaming and whining until his head exploded, and so would the rest of you. I am sure the DNC will do the right thing at the convention and not disenfranchise those two states, otherwise Obama will lose them both by huge margins should he ever become the democratic nominee.

TCG-Then are FL and MI voters considered PEOPLE under your definition of the word PEOPLE?

The Huffington Post is a blog, not a news outlet, and not a reliable source of anything other than opinion.

When you hear the govenors of Florida and Michigan floating a 50/50 plan and the DNC checking with its lawyers to see if its possible, let me know.

Because this can't happen. its a red herring. A fantasy. It has no connection with reality.

The DNC cannot arbitrarily unelect people and replace them with another candidates delegate. Can't happen.

They can sanction delegates, or lift a sanction or approve a new vote at the request of the states in question.

They cannot do anything else.

Westie say "people through history have been willing to spill their own blood to have their vote count"

Finally coming around, huh? Welcome development and we all agree now that We The People should decide who the winner is.

Enough of the: smoke filled rooms, the fat cats, the party bosses, the fixers and other assorted party hacks who think they can throw this thing one way or the other in Denver.

The PEOPLE'S Vote should decide this thing.

To paraphrase my long comment.

Delegates are people who have been duely elected by their state.

They can't be unelected. Not without another election they could run in.

The DNC will not unelect any delegates, nor do they have the power to do so.

The DNC can sanction these delegates, who will show up to convention register as opservers and delegates to their state and then ask to be reinstated.

None of these delegates, not even 1, can be unelected by the arbitrary decision of the DNC.

Can't happen. Won't happen.
These delegates have won elections. They will go to convention.

Don't you just love Obama supporters whining about rules? But if the SuperDelegates choose Clinton instead of Obama THEN we can't follow that set of rules. We can't over turn the WILL of the voters. That's stealing the election, they say. And I thought it was only Obama who would throw his grandmother under the bus to win, now I find out that this is the character of the Obama supporters themselves. Hypocrites.

We'll see what happen after Pennsylvania, NC if Hillary got more delegates over Obama, what Pelosi would say.
She said the super delegates system is damaging Democrate party because I think Obama is leading in delegates right now.
Is she going to beg super delegates if Clinton over Obama?

The Florida legislature has proposed a plan, seat our delegates!

There is a senator that is floating the same sanction as the Republicans which is count half the delegates. That wont fly and isnt the same.

If they count all the delegates and give them each half a vote, it will fly because again the floor of the convention will be aked to fully reinstate them.

This is what will happen in the Republican convention.

The reason why you cant go with half the delegates is because these PEOPLE have been elected. And they are erela people!

YOU can't unelect people. You can sanciton their vote and then take away their sanction, but you cant unelect people, who are as we type raising money to go to convention. They will be booking plane tickets and hotel rooms and they are going.

The ignorance of political conventions by people offering oppinions is staggering.

Neither the Florida nor the MIchigan legislatures will approve any plans that unelct their delegates.

People dont seem to understand that primaries dont elect candidates. They elect delegates to go to the NAtional convention. These people campaign. They make phone calls. In large states they buy ads. etc etc etc.

YOU CAN'T UNELECT PEOPLE!!!! Certainly not without another vote.

These delegates are going to convention and they will be seated. 100% guarenteed.

toby, do you really think hellary would have the votes to win against McCain?

With all her lies and distortions, she has destroyed the party. Period.

I will never vote for her, and know many, oh too many people, who also will not vote for her, whether she managees to steal the nomination or not. Everyone is sick of her triangulation destruction. Look at what she's doing right now, she is totally deceitful and dishonest.

I'm sick of all the racist bs. Obama is now being swiftboated by racist Fox News with the FALSE black panther story. And some of you folks wonder why we have a race relations problem?!

JOHN EDWARDS, BILL RICHARDSON, JOE BIDEN, grow a spine gentlemen and STANDUP!!!

Yeah rules are the rules and there are no rules that allow the DNC to arbitrarily award delegates, or to have a super delegate Primary, which by definition is impossible.

The rules say that these states can appeal to the convention to have their delegates seated.

THOSE ARE THE RULES! That is what will happen.

That is what was always going to happen.

Obama has been foolish and he loses both the PR onthis one and the delegate count. They will be seated. Their pop. vote will be included in the count before the nomination vote and Clinton will win.

He has just sealed the fate of his candidacy. He should have gone with the redo's.

Lots of my progressive friends in MI voted for Romney, as part of the DailyKos strategy, since the Dem primary didn't count. Under the Clinton-biased rules being proposed for the Re-vote, they wouldn't be able to vote.

Sure, maybe they were being too clever. But they're part of the progressive group fighting the re-vote.

If the DNC does nothing, which appears to be the case, it goes to the floor of convention.

The only question will be seat the delegations or don't seat them. Period.

These people will by the way be standing there carrying signs. They will already be at convention as observers.

It will also be too late by the way for other delgates to be signed in and therefor impossible for any new delegates to be assigned to anyone.

The people commenting here have no idea how political conventions work.

There will be NO 50/50 option. It isn't possible. The delegates will already be signed in and the deadline for registration passed.

Not possible!

From what I hear Obama side says that rules are rules and that MI and FL should not count. They have also been demanding that Superdelegates must align their votes according to the results of the primaries of their constituents.

From what I hear and understand, Superdelegates were established back in the early 70's as independent delegates who exercise their own right and judgement to vote for the more electable candidate. I guess, to have a final say on whether the voters made a mistake or what.

Now both rules are odd and now seem ridiculous because of the predicament the Democrats are in now. But I wonder how this is playing out now when this issue with Rev. Wright has obviously affected the electability of Obama.

TomDavie,

I agree , if Clinton won NC she would be ahead to the nomination.
If this is what DNC decided to not do anything to help MI and FL, that is bad.
But Hillary still have lots of chance.

Obama backers now starting to worry .
Chris Matthew suddenly showed up on Ellen show, it's pathetic.

I agree, I no longer think that Obama will be the VP on the ticket.

I think that blocking the revotes in FL and MI as well as the Wright scandal have made that impossible.

I think that Mr Obama has done great damage to his future political career over the past few weeks.
I do not think he will be VP.

I think someone needs to go back and take a look at history. This is not the first time the Dem's have made this threat to a state that has broken rules. In the end they get seated and if it doesn't happen this time there will be war. Dividing the delegates 50/50 means nothing, it's the same as if there were no vote!

All you people who blame Obama for this mess and say "what is he afraid of?" You can be sure that if the situation was reversed and it was Obama asking Hillary for a re-do she would laugh in his face. This is politics kiddies. Everyone is out to win first prize. Giving away freebies is not part of the game. Hillary's desperate and is trying to put the blame on Obama. She is just as much responsible as anyone - she AGREED the votes wouldn't count. But, of course, that was when she thought she had the nomination sewed up. Now she needs the votes and the delegates and she cries unfair. Well, too bad. This is NOT Obama's fault and NOT his responsibility to fix. Hillary, stop playing the gender card and stop whining. If you're now not happy with your original vote complain to the DNC - they are the ones who set the rules.

I think the a ticket with Clinton & Obama is doomed. Because Obama is toast right now. His negatives would cause the Democrats to lose if obama is on a ticket.

I agree, if Clinton wins North Carolina she has won the nomination.

If its close, under 5%, and the other states are 20-30 point spreads, she has probably won the nomination.

North Carolina may decide this.

The entire time, even before these states voted, Clinton said she would ask for their delegations to be seated at convention and ask her delegates to vote this way.

The entire time.

The democratic party has split in half. There has been way too much bad blood between the clinton supporters and Obama supporters.

Clinton will probably run the table for the rest of the way. If she wins North Carolina, Obama could be in some serious trouble.

As for the will of the people? The Obama backed LIBERAL MEDIA is going to whine and whine and whine so Obama can have his way.

If clinton wins the popular vote and every major state, she deserves to be the nominee.

Look obama chose to take his name off the ballot in MI for two reasons, a) he knew he was going to lose and b) to pander to Iowa.

He received 25% of the vote according to exit polls, Clinton got 55%

She won Michigan by a landslide.

There was no rigging, no conspiracy, simply a choice that the Obama campaign made. Neither candidate campaigned there.

Clinton always amintained she would ask for the delegates from MI and FL to be seated at convention, and she will.

It is now up to superdelegate democrats to decide if they can afford to not seat the delegations from Fl and Mi at convention.

My bet is they will be seated. The DNC is in the business of winning elections. They can't win in NOV without both of these states.

Obama was dumb. Now Clinton gets to go after the uncommitted delegates, instead of many of them being Obama delegates.

Maybe some of these people have changed their minds after this week and maybe more will change their minds after Clinton starts winning states by 30%, which she will.

These delegates will be seated, 100% guarenteed.

Come on! Earlier in the campaign Hillary herself clearly stated that the voting in Michigan "isn't going to count for anything".

She did't care about the Michigan voters before her ship started to sink badly. Her current fever about these votes is a damage control attempt, but she already put her signature under the cause of the damage at the start of the campaign.

She's deceiving America for everyone to see.

Florida and Michigan voters need to be venting their anger at their respective State DNC's and not at the candidates!

It is just plain crazy to expect this error in party judgment to be 'fixed' by one or the other of the candidates.

That having been said - I wish the Clinton supporters would quit blaming Obama for every little thing that doesn't go their way. It's become more than old - it's become nauseating. Grow up!

The rule 50/50 absolutely will benefit Obama.
That's what he wishes.

The DEm party goofed big time and now they want to give the nomination to Obama. The Dem Party is going down in Nov and I have been a loyal Democrat my whole life. They do not deserve my support, my money or my vote! Yes, I am angry at this very undemocratic primary put forth by my party but they will have to understand that they cannot take us for granted, And there are many like me!

I don't agree with 50/50.
Obama does not deserve it if they do the revote I think Hillary would get more than 50%.
it sounds like " A BRIBE " to Obama which did not do anything in FL and MI.

Then the party elites are the ones who should have their votes stripped.

what about rules of law? even people who broke laws in hard waya can be given chances to correct themselves.

MI has been punished, all the money spent on the primary has been wasted because it has amounted to nothing. Why not give them a second chance? Not letting them redo is equivalent to kill a person for stealing a bread.

I don't understand this -- Obama has all been grassroots, but why he is doing this? If he is all about letting voters decide, but why exclude voters in MI and FL. What is he afraid of?

"Florida and Michigan do not deserve their votes to be counted in the primary. Florida and Michigan need to hold the people responsible that moved the primary when it was against the rules. CASE CLOSED!!!"

personal responsibility isnt a trait that people like to espouse upon themselves. For the voters to hold their leadership responsible, they would have to admit wrong-doing in their back yard. Easier to blame the opposition to your candidate. Even to this day, the voters have options that don't require them falsely accusing one of the candidates or the DNC for that matter. In fact, there is an obvious resolution to this whole deal that would make everyone relatively happy. Except the repubs of course, my friends are living this up.

If Sen. Clinton had said no to the exclusion of the Delegates from Michigan and Florida, when she was ahead in the polls, those delegates would have been seated today. The facts is everyone agreed, including Sen. Clinton. The fact is Michigan was about to vote for a do over until she showed up at MI yesterday. People want a do- over, but they don't want the American people to view it as an unfair election. MSNBC, said Sen. Clinton's appearance killed the vote for a do-over. After all this years one would think she should have a better judgment on issues like this.

A deal should be made to form a ticket hillary on top, obama on the bottom for the interest of the part. Obama is a young man and let him get experience as a VP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! Plus if he is the nominee his racist reverend will be the best thing to happen to the republicans since dukakis rode on the tank!!!!!!!! HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT!!!

Instead of a 50/50 split, would folks here think that a 51/49 split (Clinton/Obama) is reasonable? Seriously. The difference in delegate count would be almost negligible, it would allow Obama to take the high road in acknowledging that Clinton arguably won the popular vote in both states, MI and FL would be seated and not a penny more would be spent on the issue.

There was no rule of law it is the DNC with the stupid rules of disenfranchising these 2 states. You would think after 2000 & 2004 the voter problems in FL & Ohio the DNC would be the last people to do this. This goes to show how stup Howard Dean and Donna Brazille are.

The DNC rules and bylaws committee has no and I mean NO authority to arbitrarily award delegates to any candidate.

There is no 50/50 proposal coming from either of these states.

It CANNOT happen.

Who is the "CHICKEN" now?
Not the American as Mr Wright assumed but his beloved nephew.

"FL and MI were rigged against Obama, particularly MI. To claim otherwise is simply disingenuous."

Tungsten -- You're going to have to explain how it was rigged. I'm not sure I follow your argument.

The seating the delegates 50/50 is a fairy tale invented by the Obama campaign.

These two states would have to ask for that arrangement and they never will.

The DNC does not have the power to simple award delgates as they see fit. It doesnt work that way.

There is more chance that leprechauns exist than the DNC rules and bylaws committee will simply divide the delegates for FLorida and Michigan 50/50 against the wishes of these two states.

Fairy tales are more real than this scenario.

Obama sounds like a coward.
What if in this case the states need to revote are Missisipi and South Carolina?
He would fight very hard to get the revote.

"These 2 states thought they could get more attention by moving their primary."

The irony here is that they are getting far more attention than the DNC bargained for when they stripped their delegates. I bet Howard Dean loves his job these days.

Why is this an issue? Yes, there will indeed be an impact on the election if things don't change for those 2 states. But what about the rules of law? It would seem to me that if you are warned that moving your primary date could get your state booted out of the election process, you might not want to move your promary date. So if there is a beef that the people of those states have with this issue (and I agree they should), that beef should be at the state level (you know, the people responsible for putting them in the situation in the first place) and not the federal government. Am I wrong for thinking that for once someone can take responsibility for their screwups?

FL and MI were rigged against Obama, particularly MI. To claim otherwise is simply disingenuous. I'm all for the power of the voter, when the election is fair. But Putin won in Russia, and nobody's handing HIM any medals for democracy. Excuse me, Medvedyev.

For people thinking re-do in MI and FL is unfair, please tell me how is it unfair, to whom?

Obama is the one who uses "technical problem" as an excuse to block re-do in MI. He was the only one who aired ads in FL before the primary.

What is he afraid of?

I have never been a hardcore obama supporter even though I was once inclined to him. But after all these fiascos coming out recently, I no longer trust him. I can no longer suppress the doubts that my brain continues to pose to my heart. Yes, he had a beatiful speech, yes he asked we start healing, but how, my take on his advice is:
1. white people: continue to build up your guilt,continue the self-censor of anything you do and you say,
2. black people: free to engage in mindless ranting, because anything you do is justifiable by history.

I don't buy it. For those say Hillary's religion has a problem, please tell me in what way?

Does she need them JAke???

She is looking to win PEnn, Kentucky, and West Virginia by 30 point spreads, Indiana by 20, and she will raw even or maybe even beat Obama in NC.

She is also favoured in Oregon and will win by a spread of 30 in PR.

So does she need MI and FL???

They can petition to be seated at convention and if the delegate count is close which it will be, supers will vote to seat them.

They have to. The DNC will not disenfranchise 2.2 million democrats, not if they want to win in NOV .

Also if you are a super delegate are you going to vote for the guy who is losing contests by 30% in the final round and lost MI and Fl and didnt let them revote, or are you going to vote for the candidate who looks like a winner and will be leading all the POTUS matchups by then???

Fl and MI should be allowed to revote but hey will be seated, as they always were going to be.

And NO Clinton doesn't NEED them, she has them already!

There are going to be so many disappointed people when the superdelegates vote their conscience and their candidate doesn't win the nomination.

If they are supposed to vote the will of the people, then why do they even exist?

The PEOPLE of Florida and Michigan deserve the right to vote. It does not matter who can, should ,will, won't win. It is not about Obama or Hillary. It is about the PEOPLE of these states. This is supposed to be a democracy. The PEOPLE never gave away their chance to vote- it was taken away by the party elite. It doesn't matter that there were "rules". Did the PEOPLE agree to the rules? No, they did not.

Both candidates have a chance that they will win or lose these states. It is a gamble on both sides. Both of these candidates should remember that they are running for President to represent the PEOPLE.The PEOPLE will leave the democratic party for the general election if they lose their RIGHT to a vote in the primary. We cannot afford four more years of republican rule.

Yes it can be said that Hillary needs the states to win- But Obama is fooling himself if he thinks the PEOPLE do not see what he is doing. It is selfish to put his ambitions above the PEOPLE. If Hillary were ahead and were trying to keep people from voting Obama would liken it to Jim Crow laws. You can't have it both ways. Be the uniter that you say you are Obama and the person that loves to bring new PEOPLE into the voting process. Do you not care about all those young voters in Florida and Michigan that want to support you? Take a chance Obama- what are you afraid of? Give the PEOPLE a chance to be heard- prove that you mean what you say in your speeches.

I voted for Hillary but if Obama wins the nomination by denying the PEOPLE in Florida and Michigan the right to vote he can kiss my vote in the general election goodbye.

I don't buy the whole "disenfranchised" argument. If I lived in MI or FL I would not vote for McCain just to get back at the DNC. How stupid is that. These 2 states thought they could get more attention by moving their primary. It backfired, live with it. I'm sure Brett Farve would like a do-over on that last interception he threw too. Obama 2008!