The Great Compromise (Sort of)

"Hello! I'm a Democratic delegate from Michigan. Or am I from Florida?"


I managed to catch some of Democratic brain-storming exercise out of DC this weekend over what to do about Michigan and Florida. In the end, the Dems decided to admit the Florida and Michigan delegations to the convention in Denver after all. Well, sort of. Each delegate will count as only one-half vote.

This was a mess that no one could clean up. If you remember, the Democrat leaders of Michigan and Florida decided on their own to move their primaries up in order to make them more meaningful like Iowa and New Hampshire. The DNC told them not to under pain of having their delegates thrown out. The two states went ahead and did it anyway, and, as a result, the national party told them their primaries were null and void. The candidates, at the time, supported the decision and agreed not to campaign in those states. Obama took his name off the Michigan ballot while Mrs (One-Way) Clinton left hers on. Subsequently, Clinton won both states.

Originally, it was thought that it would all be a moot point since Clinton was expected to cakewalk to the nomination. Oh, that seems so long ago. Eventually, Hillary realized that she needed those votes since she was so far behind Obama in delegate counts-and popular votes.

So then, led by the Clinton campaign, we found ourselves-or the Democrats found themselves- in another "Let every vote count" imbroglio. Hillary argued (rightly) that the Democrats could not expect to win those states in November if they disregarded the voters who went to the polls and voted anyway-even if they were under the impression that it would not count. Obama, for his part, understood that he couldn't simply take a position of "follow the rules" since he will need those states himself in November. So he was forced to go along with a "fair and equitable" way of bringing Florida and Michigan to the convention. By now, Obama could afford to be generous and let Hillary garner a few more delegates since he is comfortably ahead in that regard.

So the "intelligentsia" of the Democratic Party met in Washington DC this weekend to listen to the arguments of the two campaigns as well as the leaders of the party in Florida and Michigan. Outside, Hillary supporters demonstrated and argued with Obama supporters while inside the party honchos tried to figure out the "perfect solution". Actually, the fairest solution would have been to stick by the rules that had originally been laid down and refuse to change those rules in the middle of the game (as they tried to do in Florida in 2000). Problem was, they had to placate Democratic voters in those two states, who probably would have refused to turn out for the party in November. Can't have that-not in two important battleground states like Florida and Michigan.

So what did they do? They cut the old proverbial baby in half-with a chain saw, no less! All you delegates from Florida and Michigan, welcome to Denver! That was the good news. Now for the bad news. Your votes will only count one-half! (Remember the old 19th century decision that counted blacks as 3/5 a person?) A standing ovation didn't exactly ensue as several folks left the room shouting their disgust. And you want to have these folks run the country, do you?

All in all, it was another rusty nail in the by now moldy coffin of Hillary Clinton's nomination hopes. Obama has taken another limp toward the finish line (with Jeremiah Wright and His Em n Eminence Michael Pfleger holding onto his ankle) while Hillary is wandering around Puerto Rico doing her best Norma Desmond imitation and scrounging for delegates in the local cantinas. Next stop-Guam.

Oh, stop the presses! Hillary has won Puerto Rico.