Legal Commentary

Granholm Proposes Legislation For MI Revote; FL Says No To Mail Revote

By Big Tent Democrat

By Big Tent Democrat

(Speaking for me only)

Via Ben Smith, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm puts Obama on the spot - proposes legislation for the Michigan revote.

It is basically a carbon copy of the existing primary legislation with dates changed to accomodate the proposed June 3 revote date. The one major exception is the amendment to Section 613(a)(2). It provides that on April 17, the State Treasurer will certify the amount of funds raised for the primary and if that amount is less than 12 million dollars, then the primary will be cancelled. That should satisfy any concerns about Michigan having to pay for the primary. Proposed Section 624(h) provides the authority for the State Of Michigan to receive contributions to pay for the revote. Apparently, no new entity was deemed necessary to receive such funds. One last section of particular interest, Section 615 would require voters to affirm that they did not vote in the Republican primary. According to exit polls, 7% of the participants in the Republican primary identified themselves as Democrats. McCain won those Dems by 41-33.

Florida Dems blow it:

Florida Democrats won't go forward with a plan to redo the presidential primary with a mostly mail-in vote. The plan to have the party run a second primary in an effort to seat the state's delegates at August convention was abandoned Monday after party leaders expressed concerns about the proposal.

The Florida Dem House delegation has disenfranchised Florida Democrats. Good job there Wasserman Schultz, Hastings et al. Michigan Dems have put you to shame.

More:

Karen Thurman e-mail: "...A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it’s simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the Party were to pay for it. Republican Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio refuses to even consider that option. Florida is finally moving to paper ballots, which is a good thing, but it means that at least 15 counties do not have the capacity to handle a major election before the June 10th DNC primary deadline.

"This doesn’t mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again in April.

"When this committee stripped us of 100% of our delegates last year, some members summed up their reasoning by saying, “The rules are the rules.” Unfortunately, the rules did not apply to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina when they, too, violated the DNC calendar by moving from their assigned dates. As the late great Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We must adjust our ideas to the facts of today… Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.” "

Yadda yadda. Florida Dems stink.

The State House Minority Leader, a Democrat, seems to blame the FL Congressional Dems:

. . . While it was the only option available that would have given Florida Democrats an avenue to host a selection process that was in compliance with DNC rules, it lacked the consensus required to allow it to happen. Since an actual primary redo or a caucus are not plausible options, this will mean that Florida Democrats will essentially be delegating their fate to providence . . .

The truth is, because delegates are awarded proportionally, the revote by mail would not have likely resulted in Florida deciding the nominee as it is mathematically improbable that enough delegates would have been generated to change the outcome. But a revote would have been in compliance with DNC rules thus making it an insurance policy against the nightmare scenario of a divided national convention with Florida delegates nowhere to be found.

Many Floridians are rightfully concerned about this scenario. . . .

What a disaster. BTW, for you Hillary supporters, her chance to be viewed as the legitimate nominee just went up in smoke.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).