The Political Fiend

Now we’ve really got our hands full. Between the superdelegates and the situation in Michigan and Florida this is gonna be one for the history books–and maybe future constitutional law textbooks. Hillary’s big wins on Tuesday night did two things; 1) they complicated the superdelegate situation by giving her a credible argument for why the superdelegates should line up behind her, and 2) they reignited the arguments over what the DNC should do with the votes cast in Florida and Michigan.

The superdelegate problem always boils down to the same basic question. Should they side with the candidate that has won the greatest number of votes, or should they support the one who will likely have the greatest momentum going into November? Some would even argue that the role of the superdelegate is not a confirmatory one, but rather that of a steering committee, and that they should pledge to the candidate that they believe to be best for the party, regardless of what voters think. The safest bet would be to go with whoever’s leading the popular vote, anything else and we might have riots on our hands come convention time.

Onward. There’s no way in hell those Florida and Michigan votes are going to be counted. Not without major lawsuits being filed anyhow. Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates as punishment by the DNC for moving up their primaries. Now the DNC is paying for it. In punishing both states, the DNC managed to disenfranchise anyone who actually bothered showing up at the primaries, and now that Clinton has a shot at making a comeback she’s pushing for the votes cast in each state to count. Problem is that Obama and Edwards played by the rules, and in respecting the DNC’s decision, they pledged not to campaign in either state. Clinton did, and managed to win decisive majorities. So what are the DNC’s options, and with what results?

Option 1: Keep the status quo and don’t honor the votes cast in Florida and Michigan.

Option 2: Hold a re-do election, and allow the votes to count toward delegates.

Option 3: Try to translate the votes already cast in each state’s primaries into a delegate count.

Results: A flood of Equal Protection lawsuits based on systemic disenfranchisement a la Bush v. Gore, a whole lot of kicking and screaming from the Obama camp, and a whole lot of grins and high fives on the Republican side. If the DNC doesn’t drastically retool its procedures after this mishap, I’m moving to Canada.

When Michigan and Florida moved their primary elections up before ‘Super Tuesday’ on February 5th, the Democratic Party stripped both of those states of their primary delegates, essentially giving each state zero say in who becomes the party nominee. However, as Hillary Clinton is aware, any victory is a good victory, delegates or no. Even a nominal victory means a little more press, and a little more of that ‘electability’ sentiment.

After Obama, Edwards, and Clinton all pledged not to campaign in either Michigan or Florida, Clinton uncrossed her fingers and did so anyway. She won the most votes in Michigan, and tonight she won the most in Florida.Don’t even get me started on how she baited Obama with her comments about Lyndon Johnson; Clinton is way too smart not to have known that by making claims that minimize the impact of Martin Luther King, Jr., Obama would be forced to respond, or else lose the black vote. In doing so, Clinton sought to brand Obama as a the “black candidate” potentially sending him down the road to an ultimate loss.

For shame Hillary.