More from the House of Waffles
If they can’t even run their primary system, how do they expect us to trust them to run the country? I just hope he is smart enough, and savvy enough in regards to history, to not try to count each one as three-fifths of a delegate. That would be bad.
Howard Dean: Florida and Michigan Delegations Will Be Seated (well maybe, maybe not, he’s not sure)
Representative quotes:
STEWART: If I were designing a plan to submarine your chances, and again, you don’t have to follow my advice here, I would take the state that was, let’s say crucial to the Republican election chances — lets, let’s call it Florida — and I would find a way to insult them. Maybe not seat them at the convention, that sort of thing. Then I would pick a Rust Belt state, maybe a Michigan, and say to them the same. Now you’ve got two states that are angry with you. Do you think that would be a good way?
DEAN: Well, we’re actually going to seat them at the convention.
STEWART: What?! This is news! Are you really going to do that?
DEAN: We’re going to find a way to seat them at the convention.
START: Are you really going to?
DEAN: Yeah.
STEWART: How — how can you do that when their results don’t count?
DEAN: Well, it’s a little hard, but we’re gonna do it.
. . . .
It’s gonna be quite a juggling act, but we’re gonna do it. You cannot have a Democratic convention without Florida and Michigan.
Stewart also asked Dean why Michigan and Florida don’t have to follow the rules. Dean replied: “They do. That’s why they lost their delegates.”
I don’t get it either.
Finally, Dean argued that the Democrats’ system is “still more democratic than the [system used by the] Republicans” — you know, the system where the voters choose all the delegates. Stewart let him get away with that one.
Watch it all, if you can stand it.
Simple: the delegation will be seated, but when votes are called, they simply won’t call on Florida and Michigan. Those delegates will have less impact on the outcome than the chairs on which they sit. ‘Democracy’ in action.
Mike O
May 4, 2008 at 2:21 pm
If push comes to shove, FL and MI will have their votes counted, which the Clinton campaign believes and is counting on.
There are several ironies of this primary election, perhaps the most interesting one of my lifetime. One is that for all the jostling to get an early primary (see FL and MI), it is the states who sat back and did nothing that have gained in stature. Pennsylvania, Indiana, and North Carolina are much more sought after by the Dem candidates than some of the glut of early states.
Another irony concerns the criticism of the overall process. The standard line bemoans the overly front-loaded primary that has a tiny number of unrepresentative voters decide the outcome. But in actuality, this Democratic primary has turned out to be a great test of staying power, organization, perseverence, and the candidates’ ability to compete across regional and demographic lines. I would surmise that a better electoral challenge has never before been presented to either party’s candidates.
DFV the Scribe
May 5, 2008 at 10:24 pm