TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Officials Discuss Florida Do-Over

Associated Press photo

Gov. Charlie Crist wants Florida's votes to count at the Democratic National Convention.

ADVERTISEMENT

By WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 6, 2008

Updated: 03/06/2008 12:21 am

TAMPA - Florida, once again, is at the center of a whirlwind of confusion over a presidential race.

After the Texas and Ohio primaries, the continuing, indecisive Democratic race has caused increased pressure for the national Democratic Party to settle the thorny issue of the Florida delegates.

Senior elected Florida officials discussed one possible solution Wednesday evening: holding a second Democratic primary vote to choose a delegation acceptable to the national party.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, the state's senior elected Democrat, called Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday to discuss the possibility, according to a spokesman.

The two agreed that Florida taxpayers shouldn't pay the tab, and Nelson thinks the Democratic National Committee should bear the cost, said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin.

A statewide vote would likely cost into the double-digit millions.

Meanwhile, Crist, a Republican, issued a joint statement along with Democratic Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm calling it "reprehensible" and "intolerable" that both national parties are penalizing Florida and Michigan over their primary dates.

"Seat our delegates," Crist and Granholm demanded.

Ballot Boycott Discussed

Florida legislators and members of Congress, frustrated by the situation, also were discussing the issue Wednesday, but with few options in sight.

Florida and Michigan congressional Democrats met Wednesday evening to discuss possible approaches to the situation. According to aides, they didn't agree on any specific course of action.

"The only consensus is that the voters in both states need to have their voices heard," said Jonathan Beeton, an assistant to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston.

Members of the Florida Legislature even discussed legislation to leave major party candidates' names off the 2008 presidential ballots if the primary results weren't counted - but they acknowledged that any such legislation was highly unlikely.

"The idea was floating around the Legislature about a bill that would say that if the national parties did not seat all the delegates, then the state would not put the nominee on the ballot," said state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston.

Asked whether such legislation was a serious possibility, Rich said "No."

State Sen. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, said the talk originated "from the frustration ... I feel our delegates should count. I know the Democrats think their delegates should count."

The Florida Democratic Party, in response to Crist's statement, restated its stance against holding a second primary, but appeared to soften that opposition a bit, leaving the door cracked.

A written statement from state party chairwoman Karen Thurman said the Florida party has discussed with the national party "a potential alternative primary," but that no plan discussed so far is satisfactory.

"It is very possible that no satisfactory alternative plan will emerge, in which case Florida Democrats will remain committed to seating the delegates allocated by the January 29th primary," Thurman said.

In the past, Florida Democrats have said holding a second vote or caucus to choose delegates would have the effect of disenfranchising the voters who expressed their will Jan. 29.

Granholm also reportedly was considering a caucus to choose a new Michigan delegation, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

National Parties Unresponsive

The Democratic National Committee showed no sign of softening its proclaimed intent not to seat delegates chosen according to Florida's Jan. 29 vote or Michigan's Jan. 15 vote.

"From our perspective, nothing's changed," said DNC spokesman Damien LaVera. "There are only two ways to go forward," meaning the Florida party can choose a new slate of delegates independent of the Jan. 29 vote, or it can appeal to the party credentials committee this summer.

The DNC has said it won't seat Florida or Michigan delegates because both states broke the party's rule prohibiting most states from holding primaries before Feb. 5.

The DNC would accept delegates chosen under a new selection procedure now, however.

The Republican National Committee, which has a similar rule, penalized Florida, Michigan and three other states, cutting their convention delegations in half.

The Republican National Committee had no response Wednesday night to the Crist statement. But in the GOP race, restoring all the penalized delegates wouldn't affect the outcome and therefore wouldn't cause any contention.

In both parties, convention delegates are the ones who actually make primary votes count, by voting at the convention for the candidates favored by voters in the primary.

"The right to vote is at the very foundation of our democracy. ... It is reprehensible that anyone would seek to silence the voices of 5,163,271 Americans" who voted in the Florida and Michigan primaries, said a joint statement by Crist and Granholm.

"It is intolerable that the national political parties have denied the citizens of Michigan and Florida their votes and voices."

The tight race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama is causing a renewed focus on Florida and Michigan, as it begins to appear that even small numbers of convention delegates could affect the race.

"Florida just became relevant again," Broward County Democratic Party chairman Mitch Ceasar, a member of the Democratic National Committee, said Wednesday morning.

He said Tuesday's results mean "We have two very tough candidates who will continue to compete pretty much until the end. Therefore a Florida and Michigan solution must occur in the very near future."

Brokered Nomination Feared

Many Democrats fear the undecided race could lead to something not seen in decades: a nominee chosen by political debate and negotiation at the convention.

That could weaken the nominee, who would be forced to battle for the nomination through the summer while GOP nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain, could campaign for the general election.

"That would be a disaster," said Judithanne Scourfield-McLauchlan, a University of South Florida political scientist and former Democratic campaign worker.

But she said she doesn't think that will happen.

"It's extremely unlikely the party apparatus and all the superdelegates would go through the summer without a decision," she said. After the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, the last large state, "There will be serious pressure to wrap this up," she said.

"Superdelegates" are uncommitted delegates, about a fifth of the total, who aren't bound by their states' primary votes and can vote for any candidate they choose.

Tuesday's results apparently had little effect on the margin between Clinton and Obama in the delegate race, making it more likely that neither will win sufficient pledged delegates in the primaries to assure the nomination, 2,025.

That, in turn, means the superdelegates will have to put the winner over the top.

Clinton, who won the Florida and Michigan primaries and stands to gain if their delegations are seated, called again Wednesday for the party to resolve the issue, and said how the party deals with Florida will affect its chances of winning the White House.

"How we handle this swing state will affect our Party's potential of carrying it in November," said a strategy memo from her campaign to supporters.

Florida, the memo noted, held an election with all the candidates' names on its ballot, unlike Michigan, where all candidates except Clinton and Dennis Kucinich withdrew their names from the ballot.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT