What is the solution? What should be done? How would you handle this mess?
Michigan Primary Trouble: The Final Snag?
18 Mar 2008 04:04 pm
The politics of this are crystal clear. The Obama campaign did not want a Michigan re-vote or a Florida re-vote. So they’ve raised objection after objection. Some of them have been spurious and others have been valid.
Last night, the following objection began to make the rounds:
In Michigan, there is a law stating that the first time you vote, you have to do so in-person, and can only request an absentee after doing that initial in-person verification. This would obviously be a huge problem for Obama folks, as pretty much all college students are newly registered. Some will be stuck at school and can’t vote absentee from home; others will be newly registered at their school and won’t be able to vote there as they will be home as summer will have begun. (Source: TheAtlantic.com)
Florida Mail-In Do Over For Democratic Party Primary Scratched
March 19, 2008
(Long Island, N.Y.) Clearly frustrated by the lack of support shown by Florida’s Democratic Party congressional members, State Democrats decided to shut down its bid to do a mail-in voting for Florida’s Democratic Party primary which would have represented 210 national delegates.
Democratic Party chairwoman Karen L. Thurman provided a written statement to the Associated Press voicing out her party’s frustration on their failed attempt. “A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it’s simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the party were to pay for it,” Thurman said. “… This doesn’t mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee.”
Both Florida and Michigan were disqualified by the Democratic Party national committee for holding their respective primaries too early which violated Party bylaws thereby forfeiting any representation the state held to the Party’s national convention this summer. Democrats at Michigan were successful in its attempt to have a do-over election after Legislative leaders evaluated a new measure last Monday which could allow a privately funded, state-administered do-over primary on June 3. (Source: newsli.com)
Anything that delays Obama getting the Democratic Nomination is bad for the United States of America. So if revotes in Florida and Michigan seem like they will be in favor of Hillary Clinton I recommend that they be scrapped. The more we get into discussions about things like Obama’s pastor and past the hard the general election will be. I hope the Democratic party cuts off the Michigan and Florida voters – they had their chance.
The rule of when states can hold their caucuses needs to be there to insure order in the whole process. The leaders of those states were warned beforehand what was going to happen and they chose to continue.
The leaders of those states should be outed and impeached for knowingly and willingly damaging the election process for people in those states. Hillary Clinton, last I heard, wanted those states to count without even a re-vote. That is the most severe case of election tampering publicly condoned by a politician in this country that I have ever heard.
There is no solution. The DNC should not have been so stupid as to disenfranchise voters from Michigan and Florida. Now the democratic party is getting its just reward. 1968…happy days are here again 🙂
What a breathtakingly stupid business.
Of course the vote in these States should be reheld.
Such silly rules are the equivalent of obviously guilty criminals getting off on legal technicalities.
They should simply have said ‘Your State’s Primary will not count at this point in time. You’ll have to go to the back of the queue and vote again’.
Democracy is being denied to these voters in particular and the nation in general.
The Democratic party rightly complained long and loud when Bush took Florida and the Presidency upon the illegal disenfranchisement of some Democratic Florida voters in 2000.
Now the Democratic Party itself is disenfranchising these same voters again. Amazing.
Pretty simple: Vote for the best candidate:
John McCain!
That will settle all issues.
It is going to be so wonderfully funny to see the GOP win, yet again and keep our nation safe.
Since this is now a political blog and has become less and less about chess…
It’s so funny to watch the Democratic pary tear itself apart. It’s helping all of the Republicans everyday!
Keep it up Dems!! Keep fighting and draw it out to the convention! Oh my….On Nov. 8 when the general election results begin to come in and McCain wins….
It’s going to be so funny to see all the silly Dem’s on this site so sad.
And, someone posted on this blog that a Swedish newspaper poll has McCain losing…
Well, first…who cares what any European nation thinks. We’re more powerful than all of Europe combined 200 times over and what a group of socialist thinks doesn’t matter. At all. Ever.
McCain will win. And come November when he is declared the president-elect…I just can’t wait to see the remarks on this blog because there isn’t a thing any commie/socialist European can do about it.
Democrats….what idiots.
Obama is the candidate of destiny and should not be impeded. If a few states need to be disenfranchised to get Obama elected then so be it. Four years ago the people elected George Bush and see what we got? The people are not always the best in choosing the best candidate, so excluding some to help Obama will help this nation forward.
Actually, this ‘fiasco’ may be helpful. How?
1. The national party warned the states that they shouldn’t arbitrarily move up their primaries – they did so anyway, and so now have to pay the price during this election. BUT it is now the established date and so in the future, the gross distortion that New Hampshire and Iowa had on the election process will be negated to a great degree – those states are not as representative of the country either in terms of population or concerns.
2. It points a real problem within the political parties in America – one which may puzzle readers outside of the USA. The political parties are not as tightly organized and run – there is not manifesto per se and one can be a Democrat or Republican and yet publically repudiate the official party position (if there is one at all). It is more of a free-for-all with Southern Democrats having more in common with Republicans and Northeastern Republicans agreeing more with Democrats.
Regardless of the outcome of this decision, it should be an interesting Summer and Fall Campaign.
First: When it comes to the security of the United States who cares what ANYONE outside of the U.S. thinks. Europe is too pathetic, after inciting two World Wars that inflicted more death upon humanity than all previous wars combined, they dare…even speak of the U.S…the country that saved them, literally, twice in the 20th century, in negative terms.
For any reader that isn’t an American: We don’t care what you think! We are far stronger as a nation that all of Europe combined and your people come here by the thousands to become “Americans!”
Why?
If Europe is great…such a wonderful socialist paradise…stay there. we don’t need you in America.
OUR found fathers were far greater than anything Europe has ever, ever, ever produced.
Let’s see: Europe has Hitler, Stalin, Mussoline, genocide, a hisotry of religious wars and murder due to intolerance…such as the inquisition, and don’t forget,
The Portuguese began the international slave trade while Spain, England and France quickly followed.
Then there’s Russia…serfdom, Ivan the Terrible, counteless thugs claiming to be “rulers” and…
you now criticize America…the only nation in the history of the world to really be an example of freedom, to liberate nations (such as France during WWII)…
We don’t care a bit what you think of our presidential election.
And the jealosy is so apparent it’s amazing. “Europe.”….what a joke.
Other than producing murdering dictators, genocide, crusades, inquisitions, the slave trade, and numerous other atrocities against humanity….
all you do is talk.
and that is cheap and meaningless.
and America laughs at your weakness.
And despite your stupid “polls”…you will have 8 more years of a Republican in the White House.
But…you do make good beer.
Apparently 7:08 anon doesn’t have the educational backround to realize that America’s forefathers came from Europe in the first place and were around when much of what he described was taking place.
And I hope the Europeans reading this know that 1:48 anon’s comments are the typical facist attitude going on by some republicans in America and are in fact, a small minority of the general population.
Why does everyone post as anonymous? Especially that Republican redneck that posted just above me.
Forget the revotes. Everyone talks about disenfranchising millions of Democratic voters. But didn’t they do that to themselves by breaking party rules and holding their primaries too early?
oh anon 7:53
why do you say this those earlier comments where Republican?
STOP the stereotyping!!
Stop the hate.
Stupidity is not limited to Republicans. nor are these attitudes.
Secondly you should learn the definition of facist before you throw it around so easily.
You guys don’t even have the power to take care of business in Iraq. So now you have to let the others like Iran and North Korea do anything they please.
“We’re more powerful than all of Europe combined 200 times over”
The Dem’s got themselves into this mess. They chose the rules and yes…for the most part many are promoting socialist ideas (“free this, free that, negotiating with leaders that clearly sponsor terrorism and, such as the Iranian president stated that Israel doesn’t even have the right to exist!)
-No appeasement. Chamberlain tried that with Hitler before WWII. It doesn’t work. No negotiating with terrorists leaders.
–I’m 100% Republican…but, I do believe that Clinton loves America. I don’t like her politics…but she is better than Obama…someone that supports people who are anti-semitic, racist (hates white people), and the like.
–Fact: The Republican Party has kept the nation safe since 9/11. They aren’t perfect….neither party is but they are far better on the critical issue of national security.
–It’s not being “fascist” by stating that Americans shouldn’t care what Europeans think of our presidential election. They will find reasons to dislike us anyway.
No matter who wins…and I do think and hope it will be McCain (who will probably serve only one term), life goes on…history marches forward and…
For now, we need the GOP.
Hillary would love a revote in Mich. and Florida and she would win those BIG states! If Hillary doesn’t get the nomination agter Pastor-Gate I will vote for McCain! A Life Long Democrat