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----- Original Message ----
From: Rob Harrington <Eamon1916@yahoo.com>
To: Dems2008@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, April 7, 2008 1:29:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Dems2008] Part 1 of the Chronology of Events regarding Florida and the Delegate situation stay tuned for Part 2
From reading it... there's a few times when Florida thinks the DNC is bluffing and won't enforce their rules...
"They assumed that because Florida was a key presidential battleground, the DNC rule would not be enforced."
"Ausman said the committee was bluffing. The DNC "thought they couldpush the Florida party off the Jan. 29 primary," forcing the stateparty to hold an alternative vote, he said."
Also your story fails to mention that the DNC offered to help pay for an alternative vote but was flatly turned down...
Slainte,
Rob Harrington
----- Original Message ----
From: Edward Hochman <whovian7_2000@Yahoo.com>
To: Dems2008@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, April 7, 2008 12:54:58 PM
Subject: [Dems2008] Part 1 of the Chronology of Events regarding Florida and the Delegate situation stay tuned for Part 2
Ras,
Here is Part I in the chronology of events:
Primary Predicaments
By WILLIAM MARCH
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 23, 2008
Updated: 11:34 pm
How did we get into this mess?
Florida Democrats are asking that as they watch their national party threaten not to count the state's presidential primary, and watch the two candidates battle over whether it should count.
Allan Katz and Jon Ausman, two Democratic National Committee members from Tallahassee, summed up the most common answer. "There's a lot of blame to go around," Katz said.
"Everybody involved miscalculated badly somewhere along the line," Ausman said.
The train wreck stems from a collision between states moving their primary dates earlier, hoping for influence on the nominations, and political parties resisting, hoping to keep campaigns at a manageable length.
A series of miscalculations and called bluffs by the state and national Democratic parties, the Florida Legislature, the candidates and others produced the current situation - a comedy of errors, if it were funny.
Florida's screwy electoral history figured in. The disputed 2000 presidential recount and 2006 District 13 congressional election have made Florida Democrats hypersensitive about having votes counted.
And the unexpectedly tight Clinton-Obama race is preventing compromise, as neither side wants to give up any advantage in the disputed states of Florida and Michigan.
The net effect: The Democratic Party says it won't seat Florida delegates at its convention, discounting the votes of 1.75 million state Democrats.
The bewilderingly complex, unregulated national primary process can make it hard even to understand what the argument is about. Two important, commonly misunderstood points are true:
• The purpose of presidential primary votes is to divide up national convention delegates among the candidates, so the votes don't really count until the delegates go to the convention.
• In Florida, political parties don't set primary dates - the Legislature does. But state parties decide how to choose their delegates, and national parties have the right to govern their own nominating process, including whether to seat the delegates.
In effect, voters may have a right to vote in a Florida primary, but no right to have the party act on that vote.
A History Of Controversy
Florida's primary date has caused partisan controversy for years. Usually, the party that expected an important primary fight in a coming election wanted an early date, hoping to influence the outcome.
In 2004, Democrats wanted an early date, but Republicans, who controlled the Legislature, didn't care - President Bush faced no primary challenge.
The March 9 primary was rendered meaningless when John Edwards conceded to John Kerry a few days before, and Democrats criticized the Republicans for having failed to act.
Meanwhile, both national parties, alarmed at seeing primary dates moving up into January, were putting on the brakes for 2008, making Feb. 5 the earliest allowable date.
At its summer 2006 convention, the Democratic National Committee specified a tough penalty - the loss of half the delegation, plus a boycott preventing candidates from campaigning in the state.
The 11 Florida DNC members voted for that penalty. With Florida's primary then still set in mid-March, "I don't think anyone envisioned any impact on Florida," said Mitch Ceasar, DNC member and Broward County party chairman.
But that November, incoming state House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, set out to make the state a key player in the 2008 Republican primary battle by moving up the state's primary date to January or early February.
Republicans weren't worried about the comparatively mild Republican National Committee penalty if the date was before Feb. 5, the loss of half their delegates.
Initially, Florida Democrats, who had wanted an earlier date for years, favored the idea of January. They assumed that because Florida was a key presidential battleground, the DNC rule would not be enforced.
State party Chairman Karen Thurman told the Tribune in November 2006, "I don't see any downside to it."
A Democratic senator, Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, even sponsored an initial version of the bill.
"There was a miscalculation that because we're Florida, that's going to trump everything," Katz said.
But as the legislative session began in March 2007, DNC officials issued warnings of strict enforcement of their rule. "They needed to make an example, or they'd have had a rush of other states doing the same thing," Katz said.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean called and wrote to Florida legislators, urging them to vote no, as did Thurman.
Democrats could not defeat the measure - Republicans held nearly a 2-to-1 majority in the Legislature - but if they opposed it, the DNC might be mollified, Thurman said.
As Democrats started backing away, however, Republicans upped the stakes.
A Senate committee merged Ring's bill with another requiring paper ballots or receipts in Florida elections - a top Democratic priority after the disputed elections. That would make it hard for any Democrat to vote no.
Amendments by Democrats in both chambers to make the date Feb. 5, rather than Jan. 29, failed, and the full bill passed nearly unanimously in both houses. DNC members questioned whether the amendments were even serious; Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale, laughed when he introduced his, they noted. But Geller said that was only because everyone in the chamber knew it would fail.
Disenfranchised Or Dismissed?
The Florida Democratic Party then faced a choice: Break party rules by choosing their convention delegates according to the Jan. 29 vote, or hold their own vote later.
Spokesman Mark Bubriski said the party extensively researched alternatives before deciding to go with the Jan. 29 primary. The stated reason was that the prospect of not counting the Jan. 29 votes - "disenfranchising Florida voters" in Thurman's words - was an unforgivable sin considering Florida's history.
But money also was a factor. Workable caucuses, a mail-in vote or direct election would cost between a few million dollars to up to $25 million, far out of the financially anemic party's reach.
Florida Democrats got a shocking surprise when the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to eliminate not just half their delegation, as Floridians say the rules specified, but all of it.
Ausman said the committee was bluffing. The DNC "thought they could push the Florida party off the Jan. 29 primary," forcing the state party to hold an alternative vote, he said.
Then another shock. The DNC hadn't imposed a campaign boycott, but the Democratic parties of the four states that had permission to vote early - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina - angry at Florida and Michigan's poaching, demanded a boycott. The candidates, fearing voter retaliation in crucial early states, agreed.
The banned delegations of Florida and Michigan have since become a bitter issue in the Clinton-Obama race.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, winner in both states, contends their votes should count. She argues that Barack Obama, who opposes counting them, is "snubbing" the voters, and that disenfranchising them will taint the legitimacy of the eventual nominee.
Obama charges that Clinton wants to change rules for her own political benefit.
Meanwhile, several polls have shown independent and even some Democratic voters in Florida saying that if the issue is not resolved, it will make them less likely to vote for the Democratic nominee in November.
That has caused Democratic leaders in Florida and nationally to try to find a resolution.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a Clinton backer, proposed a mail-in revote, and major donors are now offering money. But state party officials said last week that there's not enough public support for a new vote.
Spokesmen for both campaigns have said they are not negotiating toward a solution, and two lawsuits have failed.
Ausman has filed a challenge to the Rules and Bylaws Committee.
But no one really knows where we go from here.
CHRONOLOGY OF A TRAIN WRECK
Two trends - states moving their primary dates earlier and political parties resisting - collided in 2008 to make a shambles of Florida's 2008 Democratic primary.
Spring 1999: Florida's mid-March presidential primary, adopted in 1984 for the first "Super Tuesday," is no longer early because of other states moving up. A bipartisan legislative effort to move up Florida's date fails.
March 14, 2000: The Bush-McCain Republican primary race and Gore-Bradley Democratic race are over by the time Floridians vote.
November-December 2000: The disputed presidential election recount makes counting votes an emotional issue in Florida.
March 9, 2004: Florida holds another meaningless primary - the Kerry-Edwards race is already over. Democrats criticize the GOP-controlled Legislature for not moving the date.
July 2004: Michigan and other states, unhappy with the emphasis on Iowa and New Hampshire, threaten to jump to the front of the line. The Democratic National Committee forestalls them by promising a new primary schedule.
August 2004: Republicans adopt a rule making Feb. 5 the earliest allowable primary date.
August 2006: The DNC schedule also has a Feb. 5 cutoff, but with harsher penalties and four "early-state" exceptions. Florida Democrats, expecting no effect on their mid-March date, vote for it.
November 2006: Incoming Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami, advocates an earlier primary. Democrats generally favor it.
Meanwhile, another disputed election, the District 13 House race, intensifies Democrats' sensitivity to counting votes.
Early 2007: Large GOP legislative majorities and support from Gov. Charlie Crist essentially guarantee enactment of Rubio's Jan. 29 primary proposal.
March-April 2007: The DNC warns Florida Democrats and legislators the early date will cause problems. The Florida party begins to oppose it.
April 17, 2007: A state Senate committee combines the primary bill with "paper-trail" voting, a Democratic priority.
April 27, 2007: The Senate bill passes. A Democratic amendment to make the date Feb. 5 fails.
May 3, 2007: The House bill passes after a similar failed amendment. Crist soon signs the bill.
June 10, 2007: The Florida party decides to choose its convention delegates based on the Jan. 29 primary, refusing to "disenfranchise" those expected to vote that day.
Aug. 25, 2007: A DNC panel eliminates the entire Florida national convention delegation, not just half as expected, but doesn't impose a boycott on campaigning here.
Sept. 1, 2007: "Early-state" Democratic parties demand the candidates boycott Florida. Bill Richardson agrees first; Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a lead in Florida, initially holds out but finally agrees.
Sept. 4, 2007: Crist vows to veto any bill to push back the Jan. 29 date.
Nov. 8, 2007: The Republican National Committee cuts in half the convention delegations of Florida and five other states. Florida Republicans compensate with a winner-take-all delegate plan.
Jan. 29: John McCain narrowly wins the Florida GOP primary and Clinton wins a convincing victory over Barack Obama.
March 17: As the banned Florida and Michigan delegations become a bitter issue between Obama and Clinton, Florida Democrats pursue a new vote by mail, but fail.
THE BLAME GAME
Some party insiders say everyone involved in the 2008 Florida Democratic presidential primary fiasco messed up in one way or another. Here are some of the major players and the blunders they are rightly or wrongly accused of:
The Democratic National Committee and Chairman Howard Dean
Blunder 1: Imposed scheduling penalties so strict they are now damaging the nominee's chances in Florida and Michigan.
Blunder 2: Allowed or couldn't stop the four early states' parties from imposing campaign boycotts on the schedule-breaking states.
Blunder 3: After enforcing scheduling rules against Florida and Michigan, failed to enforce the same rules on three other early states that moved from their assigned dates.
Blunder 4: Failed to resolve the controversy over the banned Florida and Michigan delegations until the tight Clinton-Obama contest made it politically difficult to resolve.
The Florida Democratic Party
Blunder 1: Failed to anticipate the severity of national party's reaction to the state's primary date change.
Blunder 2: Failed to propose an alternative delegate selection process last summer, when the possibility could have been seriously examined.
The candidates
Blunder 1: Agreed to boycott primaries in two of the nation's largest swing states - not likely to win favor with voters.
Blunder 2: Allowed the controversy over delegations to become a racially tinged campaign battle instead of finding a way to settle it.
The early states
Blunder: Demanded the boycott, thereby putting their primary scheduling interests ahead of the goal of electing a Democratic president.
Florida Democratic legislators
Blunder: Failed to anticipate the consequences of moving the primary and to mount at least symbolic opposition.
Gov. Charlie Crist
Blunder: Did not get involved in seeking a solution until the controversy reached the boiling point.
House Speaker Marco Rubio
Blunder: The early primary he engineered ended up benefiting a candidate he didn't support, John McCain.
Players who didn't screw up
Florida Republican Party and GOP legislators
Whether intentionally or not, they shifted the primary date in a way that harmed Democrats but not Republicans in the 2008 election.
Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.
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