Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Obama has not
been able to close the deal. With Pennsylvania looming, both candidates
are looking to getting closure on another part of this race. What to do with
Michigan and Florida?

The Clinton campaign writes to Obama, through David Plouffe:

Dear David: The 2008 primary campaign has been a spirited contest that has resulted in record voter turnout. Both of our candidates can proudly boast of bringing new people into the process and energizing our Democratic Party. With the campaign now entering the final phase of the nominating contest, it is vital that both of our campaigns come together to ensure that the delegations from Florida and Michigan be seated to reflect the will of the voters. In Florida and Michigan, nearly 2.5 million Americans made their voices heard and participated in primary elections. We think the results of those primaries were fair and should be honored. Over the last few weeks, there has been much discussion about how to ensure that the Florida and Michigan delegations are seated. We think there are two options: Either honor the results or hold new primary elections. To that end, we are in active consultation with all of our supporters in Florida, including Members of Congress. In Michigan, we are in active consultation with the committee appointed by Governor Granholm. We hope that your campaign will join us in our efforts to ensure that these votes are counted. Sincerely, Maggie Williams Campaign Manager

Obama’s team, however, seem
scared of a revote. Big Tent Democrats offers more
on the subject. Obama’s team wants to “split” the votes, disenfranchising
the choices of thousands and thousands of Floridians:

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is raising red flags about the idea of a revote in Florida to solve the mess over the state’s delegates to the presidential nominating convention. David Plouffle, campaign manager to Obama, noted that the lead advocate for a mail-in revote is Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, is a supporter of his opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton. Plouffle said any revote would need to get U.S. Justice Department approval. Plouffle again floated the idea of seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan – which were stripped of their delegates because they held their primaries too early – through some sort of negotiated “arrangement.” One idea that has been tossed around is to evenly split the delegates between the two Democratic presidential candidates. If Florida’s Jan. 29 vote were counted, Clinton would get a net of about 38 more pledged delegates than Obama. “The easiest…is an arrangement that allows those delegates to be seated,” Plouffle said. “But not based on those elections. That would not be fair.” Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, one of Obama’s top backers in Florida, threw cold water on the idea of a mail-in revote, as Nelson has wanted. “A mail-in election has never tested or attempted in Florida,” Wexler said. “It took Oregon over ten years to perfect their system. A mail-in election would raise significant issues of fraud – especially in this short window – and such an election could disenfranchise many Floridians by disproportionately limiting voting access to seniors, minority voters, young voters, lower income voters, new voters, and new residents. Also, a mail-in election pulled together at the last minute would surely lead to numerous lawsuits and controversy following the result. Another election controversy in Florida is the last thing anybody wants.

Obama, coming off a huge win in South Carolina, with Clinton getting reams
of bad publicity at the time, also ran million dollars worth of cable advertisement
in Florida. He and Clinton were on the Florida ballot. As I’ve said before on
Michigan, Obama chose to take his name off to genuflect to Iowa and New Hampshire.
Now Obama wants an even split in Florida, while simultaneously throwing a wrench
into a revote. This is about keeping voters from having their votes counted,
because Obama is afraid of giving Clinton the advantage.

Florida and Michigan delegates must be seated; the votes counted. Or are we going to cede these states to John McCain?