By BETH FOUHYWASHINGTON (AP)— A prominent civil rights leader has told the Democratic National Committee that refusing to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan would disenfranchise both states' minority communities.
In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed "great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted." Refusing to seat the states' delegations could remind voters of the "sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries," he said.
The DNC penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules. Both states were stripped of their delegates, and the party's presidential candidates signed a pledge not to campaign in either state. Florida lost all 210 delegates, including its superdelegates; Michigan, 156.
Since then, facing the prospect of a drawn-out delegate battle with Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has pushed hard for both states' delegations to be seated. Clinton won Florida's primary Jan. 29 and Michigan's Jan. 15, but was the only candidate to appear on the Michigan ballot after the other candidates removed their names.
In an interview, Bond said the NAACP had taken no position in the race between Clinton and Obama and would not endorse either candidate. He sent the letter on behalf of the voters in Michigan and especially Florida, where the Republican-controlled legislature and governor changed the state's primary date.
"It struck me as making the voters, including minority voters in Florida particularly, victims of the Republican legislature in Florida. I wanted to get Chairman Dean to find some way to rectify the situation," Bond said.
The DNC has said it would allow both states to hold a different contest, probably a caucus, that would comply with party rules. Either state can also appeal the penalty to the DNC credentials committee, which will not meet again until this summer.
This story comes courtesy of the Associated Press.
6 comments:
here is an even simple solution: don't count the delegates from those states...
The DNC set the rules. EVERY candidate agreed to them. YOU CAN NOT TRY AND CHANGE THE RULES NOW!!!
My goodness. Mr. Bond, if you really feel this passionate about it, you should have addressed this months ago. You should have raised this before they voted. You should have raised this before the primary season started.
Disenfranchisement? You count those two states and you risk disenfranchising the 48 other states who played by the rules.
If she gets a do-over in MI and FL then Obama should get a do-over in NH, MA and CA!
As a matter of fact, just let all of the candidates come back for do-overs - bring edwards, giuliani, romney, richardson, dodd . . . Bring them all back!
Sidenote - I heard that Obama might still hold the delegate lead even if they counted MI and FL now.
Message to the Clinton campaign: STOP MOVING THE GOAL POSTS!
Mr. Julian Bond sent out a letter that was NOT approved by the NAACP! Like Al Sharpton said on MSNBC last night, this cleary is PoliTRICKS! I hope the FL and MI contests don't count!
It's too late. They made the choice to violate Party rules, and now they receive the consequences. It will destroy the 'objectivity' left, if the 'rules' keep changing. The real blame should be placed on those who, knowing what the rules are...didn't care enough to follow them. Just because Hiliary is losing to date, is no reason to try to play an unfair and different 'game'.
I'm hoping Obama wins. Nothing would unite the Republican party faster.
McCain in '08!
In your dreams Anon! With all due respect, you are delusional.
Barack Obama wins more than twice as many popular votes as McCain does almost every contest and McCain is the Republican front-runner.
Obama '08!
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