The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee met on Saturday to try and settle the problem of Michigan and Florida. They wound up re-instating both delegations in full, but limited each delegate to only half a vote -- including their superdelegates.
Personally, I had no problem with banning both delegations for breaking party rules. But, in the interest of party unity, this is a compromise that I can live with.
The states have been punished for violating party rules, but will still get to participate in the convention. In addition, the Democratic Party in both states are happy with the decision and willing to work hard for Democratic candidates this Fall.
I am also proud of the way Barack Obama and his campaign acted regarding this situation. They worked hard to find a compromise that would let Michigan and Florida participate in the nominating process. In the spirit of party unity, Obama gave up 24 delegates of his lead (19 in Florida and 5 in Michigan) to make the compromise work.
After the new delegate votes are figured in, Obama now has a total of 2,050 delegates. He is only 68 delegates short of the 2,118 needed for nomination. He should easily have more than enough delegates by the end of this week.
It's been a long and hard-fought nomination contest, but now it's time to turn our attention to the Republican opponent. America needs Obama in the White House and a bunch of new Democrats in Congress.
If Obama ends up getting the nomination, let's be sure that the asterisk is attached. Remember the popular vote!
ReplyDeleteWhat asterik? To say Clinton has the popular vote, you'd have to throw out all the caucus states and count Michigan (where Obama wasn't even on the ballot).
ReplyDeleteLet's stop these silly games and get behind the nominee.