Fla., Mich. to receive half-votes

By Billy House
Media General News Service
Published: June 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - All 211 of Florida’s Democratic presidential delegates will be seated at the party’s national convention, but with only half of their voting strength, a Democratic Party panel ruled Saturday.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee also determined that Barack Obama should be assigned more delegates from Michigan than Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters think is fair.

The effect of the two decisions in the long-running dispute about the value of Clinton’s wins in Florida’s and Michigan’s rogue primaries is that she’ll get 24 more delegate votes than Obama will from the two states.

But that was a smaller total than supporters thought she deserved, particularly owing to greater expectations regarding Michigan, which will also have a full delegation.

And it helps Obama to solidly maintain his front-runner status going into the final week of primaries.

“We’re extremely gratified that the commission agreed on a fair solution that will allow Michigan and Florida to participate in the Convention,“ Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said.

But angry shouts of “Denver, Denver, Denver,“ from Clinton supporters inside the meeting hall showed they think she should appeal Saturday’s action to the party’s convention in late August.

Michigan Decision At Issue

And outside the rules committee meeting, hundreds of mostly pro-Clinton demonstrators from Florida and elsewhere rallied, some with signs that read “Count All The Votes!“

Top Clinton campaign adviser Harold Ickes said she has instructed him to reserve her the right to appeal the matters to the party’s convention. The objections centered more on the committee’s Michigan actions, he said.

He and Clinton adviser Tina Flournoy, another rules committee member, called the action taken Saturday, “a victory for the people of Florida.“

“The decision by the Rules and Bylaws Committee honors the votes that were cast by the people of Florida and allocates the delegates accordingly.“

But they said they objected to the committee’s “decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan.“

“We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast,“ they said.

The rules committee meeting, made up of 30 party leaders from across the country, last year had stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates for scheduling their presidential primaries in violation of party rules.

Most panel members insisted Saturday the action they took was the only fair alternative to sticking with that decision and not seating any Florida or Michigan delegates.

On one hand, they said they did not want to alienate voters who did participate in those two presidential swing-states’ primaries.

On the other, they said both primaries won by Clinton were done so after the committee had said they wouldn’t count, and the candidates agreed not to actively campaign in the states. Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot in Michigan.

The panel voted 12-15 against restoring Florida’s delegates with full voting power. Florida’s only member on the committee, Allan Katz of Tallahassee, did not vote.

By restoring delegates with half-votes, Saturday’s resolution increases the number of delegates needed to seal the nomination to 2,188.

A count by The Associated Press now has Obama at 2,052, and Clinton 1,877.5. The last three primaries will be finished with Tuesday’s contests in Montana and South Dakota. Puerto Rico holds its contest today.

Clinton Has Net Gain Of 19 Delegates In Florida

In the case of Florida, Clinton under the panel’s decision would come away with a net gain of 19 more delegates than Obama - equal to the number that she got in primary victories in Ohio and Pennsylvania, noted Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat from Boca Raton.

The delegates are to be based on Clinton’s win in the Jan. 29 Florida primary, 50 percent to Obama’s 37 percent. But it normally would have given her 105 pledged delegates to his 67, a margin of 38.

John Edwards, with 14 percent of the vote, got 13 delegates.

“Sen. Obama should be commended for agreeing to offer this extraordinary concession,“ said Wexler, speaking on behalf of Obama to the rules committee Saturday.

That prompted applause from some in the auditorium, but jeering from others who found it less than a significant concession.

Clinton supporters wanted full seating and voting for Florida’s delegates. At one point, Florida state Sen. Arthenia Joyner of Tampa, who testified on behalf of Clinton, said, “We want ‘em all.“

Also testifying for Florida were Sen. Bill Nelson, a Clinton supporter, and Jon Ausman, the national committeeman from Florida who formally brought the challenge to the rules committee’s decision to strip all of the state’s delegates.

“I’m happy,“ Ausman said of the decision to restore the delegates, even with half-votes. “It’s been very difficult to get here.“

The bigger hurdle for the committee was Michigan, where Obama’s name was not on the ballot.

The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the state’s delegates, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59, with each delegate getting a half-vote.

Obama’s campaign argued that he deserved some delegates from Michigan because his name was taken off the ballot only after the rules committee decided last year to strip the state of its delegates, meaning its primary wouldn’t count. Even so, they noted that 40 percent of Michigan’s voters cast ballots for “uncommitted,“ which they argued showed support for Obama.

“This afternoon, the Democratic National Committee recognized the importance of Florida’s voters,“ said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman.

She said state Democrats will gather June 14 in Hollywood to look over the decision.