Obama Says That Neither Michigan Nor Florida Delegates Should Go To Clinton

Can Tran March 13, 2008

In the recent days, the issue of both Florida and Michigan has been a hot topic. This is attributed by three factors: Hillary Clinton, possible re-vote, and harsh penalties from the Democratic National Committee.

Both Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates for violating rules set by the Democratic National Committee. DNC Chairman Howard Dean said that they agreed to the dates to hold their primaries before signing off. Both Florida and Michigan violated rules by holding their primaries too early.

How Democratic co-frontrunner Hillary Clinton factors into the situation is very much obvious, she had won both states.

In Michigan, Clinton’s name was the only one on the ballot. Obama’s name was not present. He had taken his name off the Michigan ballot showing that he was agreeing to the rules set by the DNC.

In Florida, Clinton had defeated Obama. Obama did not campaign in Florida. Unfortunately, those two victories did not count.

Then there have been talks of a possible re-vote for both Florida and Michigan. However, all possible ideas on the table came with the same dilemma: costs. The ultimate question would be: who would front the costs?

Recently, Clinton had demanded that the delegates from both Florida and Michigan count. She said that both states are in danger of not being part of the Democratic process. So far, Clinton has failed in that bid.

While in Washington DC, Obama counter-argued. While he said that delegates from both states should be able to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, come this August, Obama said that Clinton should not have those delegates given to her. He argued against Clinton’s bid saying that it was not rational because all candidates agreed to the DNC rules and not campaign in either Florida or Michigan.

Clinton did attend at least two private fundraisers in Florida.

“The whole point of campaigning is that the voters actually start getting to know who the candidates are,” Obama explained. He added: “If we had made that determination and all these states are just putting my name on the ballot without me campaigning or running any significant ads, I would have lost by 20 points across the country, right? I don’t think anybody would think that was fair.”

His campaign opposes the revote by mail-in ballot for Florida. Clinton and the Florida house delegation also agree with Obama in opposing this idea.

“Our campaign has been in conversations with the Michigan delegation, the Florida delegation, and the DNC and talked about what options are out there and I think they’re going to be explored over the next several weeks,” Obama addressed.

He also talked about the resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. There have been questions asked about whether or not if it will impact Clinton’s campaign.