I thought I’d open a thread for anyone who wanted to comment about the fate of Florida or Michigan today. Several Dem strategists I know have suggested that Hillary has some plan to get them all seated today. The rumor is that she has some ace up the sleeve. If you have any comments or thoughts, lets hear it.
Updates:
2:00pm (ET): Congressman Robert Wexler of Baton Rouge brought some life into an otherwise fairly boring proceeding as the Democrats try to determine how many of the people’s votes they intend to ignore. Wexler stood up on behalf of Barack Obama and magnanimously offered a concession to allow half of the Florida delegates to be seated at the Democratic convention. He offered this as a major concession.
The concession that Wexler offered is being referred to as the Ausman petition.
Wexler said that Obama was embracing what has become known as the Ausman petition, the Florida Democratic Party’s proposal as put forward by Florida DNC member Jon Ausman, but he said Obama supports only counting the state’s superdelegates as half votes, a stance that was met with boos in the room.
Of course, that’s half the delegates that the Hillary Clinton camp wants. The Democratic Rules Committee does not seem to be making a great deal of headway in their effort to SELECT their presidential candidate.
Harold Ickes is Hillary Clinton’s primary representative in this tete-a-tete. He is warning of major defections among the committee memebers who have endorsed Clinton. ~ Beth
Update 5:45 EST – There is a report that the committee meeting behind closed doors has reached a compromise promising to seat all the delegates but only counting each one as .5. I’m not sure what this means for the total number needed to reach a majority however. Bryan
***Update 7:27 EST - (MBT) The Rules committee voted to seat all Florida and Michigan Delegates with 1/2 vote each.
I personally have a problem with this, since only Hillary’s name was on the ballot in Michigan. They should have evenly divided the vote there.
***Update 7:32 pm EST (MBT) – Rumors are that Hillary’s campaign will appeal to the credentials committee at the convention. She was satisfied with the Florida compromise, but she wanted the Michigan delegation seated in full.
Michigan’s delegation will be split 69 delegates to Clinton and 59 to Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) the totals then halved, leaving Clinton with 34.5 delegates and Obama with 29.5 delegates. This was a compromise suggested earlier in the week. The measure was approved 19 to 8.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:01 am
One thing I’ll say is that Howard Dean is a hapless fool.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:15 am
Hillary is toast and Howard Dean is truly an idiot. Of course, they are many morons in the GOP as well.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:17 am
go home hillary. its ovah. and here’s a bottle of jack daniels to take with you.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:19 am
Mdefl, the modern GOP is full of idiots, of course most of them are really liberals getting elected as Republicans.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:22 am
The great thing is that Hillary isn’t going anywhere. Obama may have the delegate lead, but she’s praying that something happens between now and August and the SDs will defect to her. She has no real incentive to get out, her supporters love her, her opponents hate her, there really is no middle ground in the Dem party over this. She is going to get a floor fight, and if they don’t give her the full delegation she wants today, she has the perfect excuse to stick around for one.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:30 am
Bryan, I’ll bet you there is no floor fight. She’s a little crazy, but she’s not suicidal. A floor fight would get her nowhere and would destroy her standing in the party. Whaddya say? Winner gets one up on credibility points (we should keep a running tally).
My prediction, albeit the conventional one: A week from today, Hillary has conceded the “presumptive” label to Obama, and starts campaigning for him by the end of June.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:34 am
Yeah, I’ll take that bet. I just think Hillary has nothing more to loose by fighting this thing to the bitter end.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:37 am
Ok, cheers. I still think there should be some way to keep tabs on people’s predictive track records on this site! But in lieu of such a mechanism, this friendly wager.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:01 am
Oh McCain, can we get a scoreboard please? Our credibility is on the line. I remember after the NC/IN primaries, plenty of people on this site were predicting SDs coming out of the woodworks in support of Obama and Hillary dropping out within a week. Well, that didn’t happen. There is no incentive for Hillary to drop out and every incentive for her to keep going.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:09 am
I have to admit, I was one of those people predicting that after NC/IN it would be over for Hillary very quickly. But since that prediction was pre-scoreboard, and I didn’t make any credibility wagers, it doesn’t count!
May 31st, 2008 at 7:10 am
Also, McCain gets a pass for predicting that Obama’s Great-Uncle didn’t help liberate Buchenwald, since it was pre-scoreboard. But then, he can’t get credit if it turns out he’s right!!!
May 31st, 2008 at 7:12 am
Obama: selected, not elected.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:06 am
Hillary campaigning for Obama ?
Maybe not. Theres a lot of dirty laundry and conflict there to be together at one time.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:58 am
Man, anyone watching these clowns can’t help but think what a stupid mess they have created. Also, they are a bunch of whiners.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:38 am
anyone watching these clowns can’t help but think what a stupid mess they have created.
And they want to run the country! scary.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:20 am
It’s hard to get scarier than the Bush admin as far as running the country goes. I think something like 75% of the public agrees with me. How do you think Bush would do, running against McCain and Obama? Bush would get 25%, McCain 35, Obama 40.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:04 am
Hmmm,
Comparing someones past to someones uncertain future is kinda dumb.
We havnt been hit by terrorist on our home turf since 911.
I believe the first priority of the POTUS is to protect the people.
Also, lets not forget that Bush is cleaning up behind a lot of the dems starting with Carters failed middle eastern policies that only enraged radical Islam even more up to Clintons inability to deal with Al Queda even after we were attacked once at home and two times overseas.
Didnt Bush beat McCain once already ?
May 31st, 2008 at 12:24 pm
As bad as ya’ll claim Bush is, he still beat your schlub in 04.
May 31st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Yeah, and Clinton beat Bush senior. The NE patriots lost the superbowl. Point is, the best man/woman/team doesn’t always win.
May 31st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
What kind of logic is that ?
The best man wins only if you like him ?
Ya know, I debate this other moonbat who carries the same logic.
If the majority agress with him they’re all genuses.
If they disagreee they’re all lunatics.
What the hell does Bush senior and Clinton have to do with this ?
May 31st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I was simply saying, the fact that bush beat kerry in ‘04 doesn’t mean bush has been a better president than kerry would have been. I’m not saying Kerry would have been better. I’m just saying, winning isn’t always a reflection of the best person for the job. Hillary would agree with me
But Micky, all you do is pick silly fights. You throw around words like “logic” but you obviously have no training in logic, which is obvious because you frequently misinterpret/skew people’s comments and commit gross ad hominem arguments and logical fallacies. Ask bryan. I’m guessing he has a little training in the art of argument.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
My only point is that Bush not be that great, but he’s better then any choice the Dems have given us in 8 years. One thing the Bush presidency does prove is that it is a waste of time to run on unity and non-partisanship. This is a war of ideology. When Dems say they want unity or compromise, they mean that they won’t stop bitching until you agree with them. The GOP seems to try to bend over backwards to get the libs and media to like them and what has it gotten them?
Reagan was the exact opposite. He was an unabashed Conservative, he ran on vastly increasing the military, crushing the Soviet Union, eliminating the Department of Education and drastically lowering taxes. He wasn’t interested in compromising with Dems, he was interesting in following his convictions. What did all that get him? Two of the most lopsided electoral victories in American history. You would think there is a lesson in there somewhere for the GOP.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Bryan, I would submit that if Gore or Kerry had been elected, we would but just as “safe” except we wouldn’t be entangled in a vietnam redux in iraq. We can’t know whether I’m right, but it’s hard for me to believe things would have gone worse if the dems (or mccain, for that matter) had been in charge.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:17 pm
psynoir.
So, should the thought process the rest of us people use be discounted because we dont have formal training in logic such as you ?
What an elitest little snob bitc* you are.
I swear man, you talk about me and the little ad homen fights I pick but your ” logic ” demands that you respond to me.
You make comparisons that have no connection to what we are talking about (Bill Clinton & Bush senior) and then you get on the stump about your training in logic.
You ask Bryan O.K.?
I dont need anyone to help me make my points.
Now, the real issue here is this, which you fail to know or realize.
Liberals lose elections more than cons.
Historical fact !
And boy o boy did you and the people who carry your similar logic ever fuc* up this election but GOOD!
May 31st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
We’ll see, Micky. One of us will eat crow in November. I’m through with you, though. It’s like arguing with a narcisisstic high school dropout. Not worth the energy.