May 31, 2008 7:05 AM
Showdown on the road to Denver: SATURDAY'S LIVE-BLOG
(BELOW IS HOW WE LIVE-BLOGGED THE EVENTS IN REAL TIME, STARTING AT 9 A.M. SATUDAY, MAY 31. The full, late-edition story, with the outcome, is HERE.)
Protesters greeted members of the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee this morning as they took up the touchy question of whether -- and how -- to seat Michigan and Florida delegations at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Resolving the question is one of the last remaining speed bumps on the long, long road to the Democratic presidential nomination.
The two states were stripped of their delegates after they moved up their primaries in violation of party rules. But in a marathon meeting today, the "RBC" is hoping to resolve outstanding challenges from both states, seating at least a portion of voting members from both states.
Backers of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won the uncontested primaries in both states, are asking that full delegations from both states be seated in Denver. Sen. Barack Obama did not actively campaign in Florida and was not on the ballot in Michigan, so his backers are hoping for a result that seats a portion of the delegates, and roughly equally between the two remaining campaigns.
Watch this site for developments through the day.
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Co-chairs of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, Alexis Herman and Jim Roosevelt began by joking about the unprecedented attention the arcane committee was getting -- including live, gavel-to-gavel coverage on some cable television networks.
"We definitely have a quorum," Roosevelt said to a packed ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, D.C.
The audience included party insiders from coast-to-coast, including various Florida and Michigan lawmakers, and party leaders from Iowa -- which was forced to move up the date of its traditional kick-off caucuses to preserve its first-in-the-nation status.
In an opening speech, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called for party unity and a cordial event, saying the party has shown with unprecedented turnout in this year's primaries that it is strong enough to survive the dispute.
He also lashed out at the national media several times, calling for an end to "blatant sexist comments" and racial overtones that have marked the ongoing primaries, which will result in the party nominating the first female or African-American candidate.
"That will stop," Dean said. "We need to come together and unite this party."
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Before the committee took up the Florida challenge, Herman reminded the audience why the committee stripped the two states of all their convention delegates for the calendar move.
Tradionally, Iowa has held the nation's first caucus and New Hampshire has held the first primary election. In 2006, the committee decided to add geographic, ethnic and economic diversity to the calendar by allowing two more states - Nevada and South Carolina - to the early line-up.
But Florida and Michigan were among a number of states that threatened to leap ahead of the date when they were allowed to hold contests - Feb. 5 or later.
The party's rules automatically called for the states to lose half of their delegates, Herman said, but late last year the rules committee decided to impose a 100 percent sanction.
"We needed to send a very strong signal in order to prevent additional states from moving forward," Herman said.
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DNC committee member Jon Ausman filed the challenge asking to restore all of Florida's super-delegates and half of the pledged delegates.
He said the state already had been punished enough, by having the candidates shun the state during the most closely-watched presidential contest in recent history.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a Clinton supporter representing for the Florida Democratic Party, was more blunt, arguing that Florida's voters would be disenfranchised if the committee did not restore all of the state's delegates to the Denver convention.
"We must uphold a sacred principle, and that is the principle of one person, one vote," Nelson said, echoing the sentiment of sign-waving picketers on the streets outside the hotel.
Nelson blamed Florida's Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor for moving the primary date, and said average Democratic voters should not be punished as a result.
"These voters violated no rule. They committed no crime," Nelson said.
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State Sen. Arthenia Joyner argued Clinton's side of the case, comparing it to past fights for Civil Rights or against the Apartheid system in South Africa.
"Today I am fighting for the right of Florida Democrats to have their voices heard," Joyner said.
She said Florida's Democratic lawmakers had no choice but to approve the change in voting dates because it was attached to election reform legislation that included a mandate for a verifiable paper trail from voting machines.
Joyner said she doesn't take the party's rules lightly. But she said democracy is supposed to be "of the people, by the people and for the people."
"Right now, as it applies to Florida, we are missing the people," Joyner said, drawing applause from Clinton backers scattered in the crowd.
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Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., argued Obama's position - that Florida's delegates should be restored with half voting rights, and Clinton be given a 19-vote net gain in the delegates allocated. (He said that would equal the combined total of what Clinton gained by winning both Ohio and Pennsylvania.)
"The Obama campaign supports a resolution today that will allow the DNC to preserve its nominating process and at the same time enable Democrats in Florida to participate in choosing our party's nominee," Wexler said.
He got a mix of applause and a few hisses from the divided audience when he called that a "concession" or "compromise."
The result would leave Obama with a larger lead in total delegates, putting him on track to clinch the nomination as early as Tuesday, when the final primaries are held.
Wexler said Florida Democrats were asking for the right to help unify the party.
"Let us unify," Wexler said.
Wexler was asked if the Obama campaign would support the proposal to restore 100 percent of Florida's delegates. He declined to state a position, drawing some jeers from the audience.
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The Michigan Democratic Party petitioned to restore 100 percent of its delegates, giving Clinton a net gain of 10 delegates over Obama. Since Obama was not on the ballot, the party based its delegate projections based on a combination of actual results, exit polls and an estimate about the 30,000 write-in votes that were cast.
Committee member Donald Fowler ridiculed that methodology: "If we could do that, John Kerry would be president of the United States."
The Clinton and Obama campaigns disagree on how to allocate 128 delegates from Michigan. Clinton wants 73 delegates, with another 55 assigned as "uncommitted." And Obama seeks an equal split. (NOTE: An earlier version misstated the Clinton proposal.)
But either way, both campaigns agree that Michigan's full delegation should be seated, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.
"The Democratic Party needs unity in the middle of this contentious battle between two strong candidates," Levin said. "The Mighigan Democratic Party has achieved unity. We're asking you to preserve it."
Levin took repeated swipes at the "perpetual privilege" status of Iowa and New Hampshire to begin the presidential nominating season, year after year.
He said the proposed solution split the difference between what the Clinton and Obama campaigns wanted, giving Clinton a 69-59 advantage
"It's the best we can do, folks," Levin said, calling it "a fair reflection of a flawed primary."
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By the end of the later deliberations, it became clear that neither the Obama nor Clinton campaigns was happy with the delegate allocations in the Michigan Democratic Party proposal.
Former Rep. David Bonior, who once led former Sen. John Edwards' campaign, said Obama deserved an equal share of Michigan's delegates. Former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, a Clinton backer, said Clinton deserved 73 delegates, with another 55 assigned as "uncommitted".
Blanchard said the problem was not the election itself, but the decisions by Obama and other candidates to take their names off the ballot.
"It doesn't make the election flawed," Blanchard said. "They had, in my opinion, a flawed strategy."
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Blanchard raised eyebrows with one late aside about the delegate counting process.
"By August, some may be switching back and forth. You never know," Blanchard said.
Many audience members went "oooh," because it hinted at a possible floor fight at the convention in Denver.
"I was referring to super-delegates on that one," Blanchard quickly added.
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