Florida Primary -OPEN THREAD DISCUSSION

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

I'm willing to believe you TW, the DNC can be incredily sall-minded. Except... I think perhaps the RNC was motivated not to enforce punishment because they have less skin in the game right now...their favorites aren't up there....there is no equivalent of a Clinton, a de facto head of the Democratic Party. motivating the RNC's actions.

but I don't know much about Republican Party politics- is it true the RNC cared less about unruly state party officials?

Ok, you folks often wonder about TW being a Republican and I think that this whole disenfranchisement thing embodies the issues I have with the Democratic party. The Democrats (as a party) tend to have these broad moralistic punishments of the "baddies". Republicans wrist slap and let God sort the baddies out.

~TW ( http://ramblewoman.blogspot.com )
Retro-Food

I wished I'd been following that more closely when it was happening - being in Ohio and knowing we weren't changing, I kind of let it slide. Curious to know what the consequences might have been if they did have the spine as you say.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com )

Check here. ( http://www.wftv.com/politics/9747507/detail.html )

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com )

I will not even load their site if I can help it. I don't like Olbermann.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

Were are they??? It looks like CNN in covering the debate from an airplane hangar??? What's that about???

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

Thanks for the update Kim...I'm switching over to CNN. :)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

and has McCain with a slight lead ( http://www.cnn.com ) over Romney. About 20 % of the precincts have reported on both sides.

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/kim-pearson )|Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )|

MSNBC & Keith Olbermann are infuriating me...(I really wanted to say "pissing me off" but I didn't think that would be nice in the title).

Keith Olbermann won't call the Democratic primary in FL, a primary...he keeps saying he doesn't know what to call it. Like we're just a silly little fly in his pundit pudding, he can't be bothered. I'm really starting to not like him.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/flor... ( http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/flor... )

Can someone point me to a website that will explain exactly why the Democrats don't matter in this primary in Florida (or why Michigan didn't count either) I still don't understand and the best I can make of the articles I have read is that it had something to do with dates switching and the DNC not liking that.... Thanks! I have to rely on the internet (sites that are not blocked) to get all my news and I am getting lost in a maze on this one.
Have a great evening!
Jen (in SNOWY! Shanghai)

state v national party enmity is a long, old story, and it poisons so many things, as we see here.

I agree with Denise: wish Obama and Edwards had shown more spine and respected the voters of Florida more than the idiots who are delegates, electors and State party officials.

This is one more reason I don't think Obama is as anti-Establishment as he positions himself to be, you know?

Is there an argument to be made that the DNC shouldn't have such a power, or that the ability to strip has to be decided with more, ahem, democracy in mind as opposed to rule-following?

I just don't know a lot about how the DNC works or is expected to work, but I would have hoped there's be some kind of override ability that gives the states the ultimate say so.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks ( http://www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com )

Good post. I'm with you, even if you didn't vote for Hillary. ;-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

She voted, and said she's confused. And my Dad was mad he couldn't vote on either side since he's registered Independent. I told him to move here ;)

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain ( http://queenofspainblog.com/ )

I'm with you on the candidates fighting the parties on this. I know a lot of Republicans were glad to see that the candidates were coming to talk to them regardless of the RNC's rulings. Democrats would have done well to make the opposite pledge from the one they made, and just gone ahead and campaigned, I think. When you're competing to be the candidate of change, why come across like an establishment wussy by just taking what the DNC gives you and stiffing the people of Fla.?

Hillary's shifting rhetoric on this, though, when just last week she was batting at Obama for campaigning in Florida, is a symptom of her loss in SC and not terribly becoming.

I wrote about my experience of being a disenfranchised voter here. ( http://www.care2.com/politics/a-beautiful-primary-... )

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

the situation in Florida is such a mess...For the DNC to strip Florida of its delegates entirely for moving the primary seems wrong to me, but restoring them after their decision seems more wrong. It creates a no-win situation for all the candidates. If HRC had won SC, I doubt she would've spent as much time in Florida as she has. BHO has to then roll the dice and guess on whether or not Florida delegates will come into play after the fact and how to allocate resources to them in the face of a 22-state primary race next week. What a mess.

karoli (Political Blog: (bang the drum ( http://politics.drumsnwhistles.com ))

Oy! Denise! If we flip-flop the party lines, I will buy you dinner at BlogHer '08 come July. That would be just the cat's pajama's. Or some clever saying like that. :)

Even though I find Ron Paul really annoying, I'm biting the bullet and taking a closer look at his campaign. I doubt I'll like him, though.

Painful as it is to say this, I'm leaning towards Obama, but I've got an open letter to the senator in the works as I type this. I can't decide whether to post it at BlogHer or on my own blog. We'll see...

We should never have been disenfranchised in the first place. (Michigan either)
All of the candidates should have fought the DNC.
All of the candidates should BE fighting the DNC.
And I still say I'd give Obama (and Edwards) more props and consideration if they said SOMETHING that indicated they wanted my vote to count. Either the one I made today - or the one I might make in the future.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

I keep waiting for him to say he's coming, but so far --- nothing.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

But if the DNC should decide to restore the delegates your mom should vote today as if they count, in my opinion. I think it would be wrong to do it that way, but for safety's sake I'd make sure I had my vote in just in case.

karoli (odd time signatures ( http://drumsnwhistles.com ))

Tonight or otherwise? I haven't seen yet-

-my mom called from the Tampa area livid they didn't resolve this before today, and shes undecided.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain ( http://queenofspainblog.com/ )

The entire Clinton Michigan/Florida thing smacked of SMARMY when I first heard. Although some Florida voters have made it a point to note they are glad *someone* is speaking up for them.

Personally I'd like to see Clinton take on the state DNC, instead of attempts to count delegates that were deemed null and void. I want to see Clinton (and the other candidates for that matter) push for rescheduling both states, not just an attempt to pick up the delegates on the sly.

Clinton's tactics on this really rubbed me the wrong way and I'd like to see everyone honor their agreements and work together to have a *fair* fight in both Florida and Michigan -not just for the sake of their own campaigns either, but for the voters in both states who do deserve to be heard.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain ( http://queenofspainblog.com/ )

Hillary isn't campaigning any more than Obama is. She's not arriving in Florida until after the polls close tonight. And, I'd much rather all three democrats stand up for my vote than say I don't count because my electorals don't count.

If Obama happens to win the nomination, I'll have a very VERY hard time voting for him for President. I'm a conservative democrat anyway... he should think about that just a little more than he seems to be.

Dana, the republican might vote democrat in the end... and this democrat might find herself voting republican. Wouldn't that be a strange strange thing?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

About a week's worth of early votes for Fred Thompson will still go to Fred Thompson. Wonder how many, and whether they'll prove to be a spoiler for Mitt. Rudy's still counting on early votes pulling him out, but he's also hedging his bets, saying the winner in Florida will be the nominee, and that he plans to make a decision about the race Wednesday morning. And, so, the outsized influence of Florida on our national elections continues unabated. What do people think about Hillary breaking her pledge not to campaign in Florida?

I voted.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )