TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Delegate Seating Battle Back In Court

ADVERTISEMENT

By WILLIAM MARCH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 23, 2008

TAMPA - Even as Sen. Barack Obama's supporters were saying the dispute over the Florida and Michigan convention delegates no longer matters, that dispute intensified Thursday with a new lawsuit and threat of a convention floor fight.

That raises the question of whether the issue will be settled, as expected, when a committee of the national Democratic Party considers it May 31.

A fight in the convention's credentials committee, the next step if the May 31 decision doesn't end the dispute, is something many Democrats dread, because it would stretch the primary battle into late August.

The background came Wednesday as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama campaigned in Florida.

Obama signaled willingness to accept a much-discussed compromise over the delegations, while Clinton argued for fully seating both and said she was willing to support the states if they pursue the dispute to the convention.

On Thursday:

•State Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller announced a new federal lawsuit accusing the national party of discriminating against Florida, the third such lawsuit so far.

It claims the party's decision to ban Florida's delegation violated constitutional rights of Florida voters.

•Clinton campaign advisers told reporters in a conference call they were joining the May 31 appeal by the states of the party's decision to ban the delegations. The strategists didn't rule out pursuing the matter to the credentials committee.

•Meanwhile, a new poll suggested Clinton is stronger than Obama against Sen. John McCain in three crucial swing states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. That added ammunition to Clinton's argument that she should keep scrapping for the nomination, even though Obama and his backers say she can no longer win.

The Clinton campaign will argue for full seating and full voting privileges for both delegations when the national party's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets May 31 to consider the states' appeals.

Obama, however, said he would accept seating half the Florida delegation, a compromise that would sharply reduce the delegate margin Clinton won in Florida's Jan. 29 primary.

Clinton Vows To Support States

Clinton, when she was asked Wednesday about a credentials committee appeal, said she would support the states if they take the dispute to the convention.

She said she'd "consult with Floridians and the voters in Michigan ... and I'll support whatever the elected officials and the voters in those two states want to do."

In a conference call with reporters Thursday, some of her top strategists seemed to go farther.

Asked whether the Clinton campaign would accept a compromise if the Rules and Bylaws Committee imposes one on May 31, they didn't answer directly, leaving open the possibility of a convention fight.

"We're not prepared to cross bridges that we may not have to cross," said Clinton strategist Harold Ickes.

Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said, "I'm going to be optimistic ... that the Rules and Bylaws Committee will decide to seat Florida and Michigan at 100 percent."

Some prominent Florida Clinton supporters weren't specific Thursday on whether they would advise Clinton to take her case to the convention.

"It's premature to talk about the convention floor at this point: The senator's very focused on battling through the remaining primaries," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, a Clinton national co-chairman.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman, who's neutral, said only, "My perspective has always been there should be a full seating to protect the Democratic voters of Florida. We ought to be cognizant that there have been 211 delegates selected, and we should take into consideration that full delegation."

Obama supporters, including U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, said this week that the issue of the delegates is moot, because Obama has won so many delegates that Clinton can't win the nomination.

Strategists Cite Poll In Argument

On Thursday, though, Clinton strategists cited a new poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute that showed Clinton leading McCain among voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while Obama led only in Pennsylvania.

In Florida, the results were Clinton 48 percent, McCain 41; and McCain 45 percent, Obama 41. The error margin was 2.6 points.

Clinton advisers are using the poll as evidence that Clinton should be the nominee, saying they would make that argument to superdelegates who still could decide the race.

"If a Democrat is losing Florida and Ohio, it becomes very difficult to get to 270" electoral votes, the number needed to win the presidency, Wolfson said. "We urge superdelegates to look at the map that makes very clear that Sen. Clinton is the strongest nominee against John McCain."

In his lawsuit, Geller argues that Republicans controlling the state Legislature, not Democrats, chiefly were responsible for moving the state's primary date to Jan. 29, but that the national party wrongly blamed Florida Democrats.

An alternative suggested by the national party, a state caucus to choose convention delegates, wouldn't have been possible under the U.S. Civil Rights Act, the lawsuit says.

It also argues that the party broke its own rules by fully banning the Florida delegation, and failed to penalize other states that also changed their dates, violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.

New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, which previously had been given approval by the national party for early dates, moved their dates even earlier. The party, however, argues those states did not jump into the early window that Florida and Michigan did.

The lawsuit lists as plaintiffs one Florida convention delegate pledged to Clinton and one Obama delegate.

Two other lawsuits have already been filed over the issue, neither with any success so far, one by Sen. Bill Nelson, and one by Tampa Democratic political consultant Vic DiMaio and county party Chairman Mike Steinberg.

Richard Epstein, lead counsel for Geller, said in a news conference Thursday that Geller's suit raises different legal questions. "We also have the benefit of some hindsight," he said.

Geller warned that if the situation is not resolved now, "we'll be back here in three years," because the state's Republican Legislature is not going to change the date to comply with national Democratic Party rules.

Reporters Billy House and Catherine Dolinski contributed to this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT