TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Fla. Democrats Reject Caucus

ADVERTISEMENT

By BILLY HOUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

Updated: 02/07/2008 12:13 am

WASHINGTON - Florida Democrats say they have no plans to take a second swipe at holding a presidential selection process so that delegates from the state might be seated at the party's presidential nominating convention.
Democratic National Committee officials also deny they've been in discussions with Florida Democrats on the idea of holding a caucus, despite Wednesday's news story by The Associated Press that both Florida and Michigan are being pressured.

"We haven't had any such discussions," said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski. DNC spokesman Luis Miranda also said no such talks have taken place.

Reports in Michigan on Wednesday said there is some interest in redoing that state's Jan. 15 primary with a caucus, given the Super Tuesday primaries didn't establish a clear frontrunner between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Like Florida, the delegates selected in Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, which Clinton won with Obama not on the ballot, don't count.

The position of the national party continues to be that Florida and Michigan will not see their delegates seated at the convention because the states violated the party's calendar rules by scheduling their primary contests prior to Feb. 5.

Still, state and national Democratic officials were not disputing Wednesday that a caucus might be one way that Florida's delegates could be accepted by the national convention credentials committee, which would meet in July and August.

Given a choice of holding a caucus after Feb. 5 or defying the national party, Florida Democrats chose to stick with the Jan. 29 primary.

Bubriski on Wednesday said Florida Democrats are "moving ahead with our delegate-selection process using our vote on Jan. 29."

Based on the vote - and if the delegates counted - Bubriski said 105 state delegates would go to Clinton, 67 to Obama, and 13 would have gone to former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has since dropped out of the race.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatbrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT