Saturday, February 16, 2008

Political Dynamite at Democratic Convention?

Gore and other "brokers" at work...
POLS 101:
This article from The Observer details the maneuvering to prevent a disaster at the convention. The paragraph I excerpted lays out the Florida/Michigan ploy.

Trailing for the first time after successive defeats in eight states since Super Tuesday, Hillary Clinton has renewed her call for the result of last month's Florida primary to count in the final reckoning. If she gets her way, it could yet push her back to pole position, assuming the contests in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania fall largely in her favour...The Florida lifeline would be thrown if the party's national leadership rescinded a decision that was supported by Obama and Clinton when it was made last summer. The Sunshine State decided it was too important to wait until after the Super Tuesday voting of 5 February and brought forward its primary to 29 January. As punishment for the breach of party rules, the state's 210 delegates were barred from August's convention. Clinton won the ballot with 50 per cent of the vote to Obama's 33 per cent, and the same thing happened in Michigan, which Clinton won with 55 per cent of the vote and where Obama's name was not on the ballot, excluding another 156 delegates. 'The people of Michigan and Florida spoke in a very convincing way, that they want their voices and their votes to be heard,' Clinton said. 'The turnout in both places was record-breaking and I think that should be respected. They have a right to be heard just as much as anyone else.'

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