Democratic Rules Committee Seats Illegal Delegates

On Friday, this journal argued that the Florida and Michigan primaries were illegal under Democratic Party rules, and therefore, the delegates thereby chosen should not be seated at the convention. This is, of course, the only right solution from a moral standpoint. The two states broke the rules, they were given multiple chances to correct their errors, and chose not to do so. Still, politics is less about morality and more about power. Thus, the Rules and By-Laws Committee decided to seat the delegations at half a vote per delegate. Even then, the Clinton campaign cried, “foul.”

Numerous diverse interests came together in the room. The Obama camp didn’t care what the resolution was so long as it didn’t radically diminish his overall lead in the delegate count. The Clinton camp wanted to move the goal posts farther out to buy time as well as close the delegate gap. Florida and Michigan’s state parties wanted to go to the Denver convention by any means necessary. The DNC apparatchiks wanted a solution that would deter further primary date shenanigans in 2012.

Over Florida, there was no real problem. All candidates’ names were on the illegal ballot, and Mrs. Clinton won 50% to Mr. Obama’s 33%, with John Edwards winning 14%. Half strength voting would give Mrs. Clinton a few votes more in Denver, but nothing meaningful. The resolution to seat all the delegates and give them half a vote passed unanimously.

Michigan was impossible to resolve in such a way. Clinton dead-ender Harold Ickes (who, from personal experience in the 1992 campaign, one can say carries an apt surname) insisted on seating all the Michigan delegates at full voting strength, but only if Mrs. Clinton split the delegation on a 55-45 basis with uncommitted (who could then be turned to Clinton delegates). His argument was “fair allocation,” a term of importance in Democratic Party rules. Donna Brazile, a highly respected committee member, called changing the rules in the middle of the game “cheating,” and David Bonior (John Edwards former campaign manager and Obama spokesman on Saturday) reminded the committee that the primary in Michigan was held outside party rules and, therefore, there could be no “fair allocation.”

Of greatest significance is the final resolution of the Michigan issue. The illegal primary would have given Mrs. Clinton 73 delegates to uncommitted’s 57. The state party, recognizing that the primary couldn’t count, offered a 69-59 split between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, a nod to the primary’s result as well as the reality of its suspect nature and the fact that this has been a two-horse race since the end of January. The Obama camp wanted a 50-50 split. In the back room where this was settled, the Obama camp actually had a bare majority and could have forced an even division through. They chose, instead, the state party’s compromise, which carried 19-8. Mrs. Clinton has 13 superdelegates on the committee, meaning 5 of her supporters put party ahead of their candidate’s demands.

Mr. Ickes angrily remarked at the end of the proceedings, “Mrs. Clinton has asked me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee.” She has that right. However, she won’t be able to count on the Florida or Michigan state parties’ support. And the majority of the credentials committee are likely to be Obama’s people if this thing gets wrapped up in the next week or two. She may fight on, but she'll lose.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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