Florida Dems abandon mail-in vote plan
Updated: 2008-03-18 09:06
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the congressional delegation is talking with the DNC and both campaigns to find another solution to seating Florida's delegates, including an idea that would take into account the January vote among other factors.
The draft Michigan legislation included language that would approve spending privately raised funds for the election, according to a Democratic leader who spoke on condition of anonymity because lawmakers and the campaigns are still considering the proposal.
The campaigns also received copies of the bill Monday.
"A revote is the only way Michigan can be assured its delegation will be seated, and vote in Denver" at the party's national convention, Clinton campaign aide Harold Ickes said. "If the Obama campaign thwarts a fair election process for the people of Michigan, it will jeopardize the Democratic nominee's ability to carry the state in the general election."
Vietor, the Obama spokesman, said, "It's pretty apparent that the Clinton campaign's views on voting are dependent on their own political interest. Hillary Clinton herself said in January that the Michigan primary 'didn't count for anything.' Now, she is cynically trying to change the rules at the eleventh hour for her own benefit. We received a very complex proposal for Michigan revote legislation today and are reviewing it to make sure that any solution for Michigan is fair and practical. We continue to believe a fair seating of the delegation deserves strong consideration."
The Democrat-led House is scheduled to leave for a two-week vacation Thursday, so any bills to set up the do-over primary need to be brought up quickly. The measure also would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled state Senate. It would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
To go forward, any plan also would require the approval of the two campaigns, the Democratic National Committee, state party leaders and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is backing Clinton.
The contest must be held by June 10 for the results to count under DNC rules.
Voters would have to sign a statement that they hadn't voted in the Jan. 15 GOP primary to be eligible to vote on June 3. That would effectively keep away from the polls Democratic voters - most of them non-Clinton supporters - who crossed over to vote in the GOP primary because Clinton was the only major candidate on the Democratic ballot.
The draft measure would set up the a fund within the state Treasury to receive up to $12 million in cash and other assets from private donors to cover the cost of the election.
On Monday in Atlanta, federal appeals judges skeptically questioned a lawyer who argued that the national party's decision to strip Florida of its 210 convention delegates was unconstitutional.
Michael Steinberg, a lawyer for Victor DiMaio, a Democratic Party activist from Tampa, said Florida's Democratic voters are being disenfranchised by not being permitted to have their say in choosing their party's nominee. The action violates DiMaio's constitutional right to equal protection, he argued.
"The citizens of the state of Florida are not being treated equally," Steinberg told the judges.
But Joe Sandler, a lawyer for the Democratic National Committee, said the party has the right to set its own the rules and not seat delegates who refuse to follow them.
There was no indication when the court would rule.
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