Supporters of Mrs. Clinton jeered the decision, loudly booing and hissing the members of the group as their faces were shown on a large screen in the room.
One woman, wearing a blue “Team Hillary” shirt, shoved a man in a suit and tie with a small Obama button on his lapel. Another woman in a white Clinton shirt hung her head in her hands.
“That was a crime!” a man shouted. “McCain in 08! McCain in 08!” a woman yelled from the back of the room. “No-bama! No-bama!”
The D.N.C. Deliberates
By Michael Falcone
7:45 p.m. | Rules Wrap Up: After a nearly 10-hour marathon meeting of the Democratic party’s rules committee, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton came away with a total of 24 more pledged delegates, but today’s decisions on the seating of Florida and Michigan delegates fell far short of what her campaign had hoped.
In a blow to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, the committee voted to restore the delegations of both Florida and Michigan at the party’s nominating convention, but gave each delegate only half a vote.
One of Mrs. Clinton’s strongest supporters on the rules committee, Harold Ickes, left open the possibility of mounting a challenge to the Michigan decision by bringing the matter to the party’s Credentials Committee, the final arbiter of delegate disputes.
Minutes after the meeting ended, Mr. Ickes and another Clinton backer on the committee, Tina Flournoy, issued a mixed statement, declaring the decisions “a victory for the people of Florida who will have a voice in selecting our party’s nominee.” But they continued to register their strong objection to what they called the committee’s decision “to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan.” They wrote:
The Committee awarded to Senator Obama not only the delegates won by Uncommitted, but four of the delegates won by Senator Clinton. This decision violates the bedrock principles of our democracy and our party.
We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast.
After listening to five hours of oral arguments from state party leaders and representatives from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns, the committee members entered a closed session, deliberating in private to hammer out the deals on the disputed delegates from the two states in question.
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I shouldn't be surprised...
But I found this clip of a rabid clintonite troubling
Hillary has done a marvelous
Hillary has done a marvelous job of convincing people who don't even live in Florida and Michigan that they are in danger of being disenfranchised. I can respect people who objected to the stripping of delegates before it became a matter of political importance for Clinton. As a independent resident of Florida with hopes of seeing a Democrat in the White House, I was a bit incensed that the DNC would risk alienating voters in a key swing state. They made a big mistake in doing this, but for the Hillary people to use this to their political advantage is just disgraceful. People such as this lady who decry the hijacking of democracy are making a fool of themselves. This should be about trying to heal the wounds in the Democratic party and not about ensuring that Hillary is on the ballot in November.
"As a independent resident
"As a independent resident of Florida with hopes of seeing a Democrat in the White House, I was a bit incensed that the DNC would risk alienating voters in a key swing state."
Wasn't the Republican controlled legislature really the culprits in this debacle? And the Democratic members of the state legislature who voted for the Republican bill on the specious grounds that it contained one provision that Democrats wanted? I think folks in Florida, I don't mean the electorate, underestimated the resolve of the DNC on this issue.
It always hurts when it's poker. The DNC was not bluffing or selling woof tickets.
I Saw A Small Bit Of The Meeting
Supporters of both camps were vocal. It's going to be an interesting convention.
I believe Harriette was a
I believe Harriette was a bit tipsy. At the very, very end someone was like, "My mother gets a little exercised..."
Well, Harriette's little
Well, Harriette's little tirade helped to dispel any notions that Manhattan is the nesting place only of American liberals.
A question
I'll be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about how party delegates work exactly, so I would like to pose a question about the following:
"left open the possibility of mounting a challenge to the Michigan decision by bringing the matter to the party’s Credentials Committee, the final arbiter of delegate disputes."
Does this mean that the selection process is thus frozen until said arbitration happens or is resolved? Or is this more of a threat which will come into play when/if Obama wins nomination (i.e. he is selected, and then it goes to this delegate arbitration group which could possibly nullify his winning the nomination)?
Much obliged
Did any one see Geraldine's
Did any one see Geraldine's op-ed piece in the Boston Globe? How can someone who was on a ticket which failed overwhelmingly to win Reagan Democrats lecture someone on how to win over these Democrats?
Did any one see
Yes.
"left open the possibility
"left open the possibility of mounting a challenge to the Michigan decision by bringing the matter to the party’s Credentials Committee, the final arbiter of delegate disputes."
If within the next several days Obama secures enough pledged delegates and support from super-delegates to have a majority of all the delegates he will have won the nomination. Sr. Hillary and her acolytes, the Clintonians, can continue to press forward regarding the Michigan issue but Obama will be the party's nominee regardless of whether or not the Credential Committee supports Sr. Hillary's position.
If Obama has the nomination locked up at that point, no sane member of the Credentials Committee would risk the wrath of the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Party Chairman and only God knows who else to support Sr. Hillary's position.
As Chuck Todd and even Supreme Obama Hater Craig Crawford Agree
It's Barack Obama's Party Now.
From Chuck Todd:
Chuck Todd on MSNBC:
You know, there is a big thing we should be getting out of this party tonight, and that is the Democratic National Committee is not somehow controlled by the Clintons. Not by the Clinton campaign any more. We may have started this campaign believing that the Clinton campaign controlled, but this is Barack Obama's party now. He's already been winning the outside game, he now won the inside game. Yes it's true that Harold Ickes can threaten this stuff about the credentials, but Don Fowler really did signal today by being for the Michigan compromise that, "Guys, it's over."
Now Craig Crawford is a different animal. He absolutely, positively despises Obama. I know he was literally choking as he wrote this:
Make no mistake about it. The decision rendered today by the Democratic National Committee's rules panel showed that Barack Obama has displaced Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as boss of the party.
The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee gave Obama exactly what he wanted - a firm decision on seating Florida and Michigan delegates. Even though Clinton wins a small net gain in nominating delegates, it is not enough to seriously boost her chances for the nomination.
No decision would have best served Clinton today. Her nomination hopes are dependent on a chaos theory, which would have been best supported by keeping the status of Florida and Michigan in limbo.
Losing what they needed today proves that for the first time in 16 years the Clintons are no longer in charge of the Democratic Party. There is a new boss in town.
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/05/barack-in-charge.html
"Losing what they needed
"Losing what they needed today proves that for the first time in 16 years the Clintons are no longer in charge of the Democratic Party. There is a new boss in town."
Craig Crawford is confused. There is the very real possibility of building a new Democratic Party in the country that is divorced from the DLC and, to paraphrase Gil Scott-Heron, "an endless list that won't be missed..." This is far more important than having a new boss.