With the Democratic presidential nomination so close, there's a lot of talk about having Michigan and Florida conduct a "do-over" - essentially, redoing their primaries.
Quick background: Florida and Michigan state officials moved their primaries up so their states would, presumably, have a greater impact on the voting. National party officials said "no way" and penalized the states by taking away their delegates. Barack Obama wasn't even on the Michigan ballot. No one campaigned in Florida.
The kicker to all this is if Florida and Michigan had left their primaries at their original dates, those two states would have a huge impact on the eventual Democratic nominee. But no one thought the race would be this close.
So, party and state officials are kicking around the idea of having some type of re-vote. Here's an overall story.
And the Politico weighs in with five options for the Democratic National Committee to consider.
A Do-Over? DNC = Does Not Comprehend
I think The Cookie puts it best!!
http://lifeisacookie.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/do-over-blow-me-dnc/
She sums up my feelings about this ridiculousness perfectly! I already voted -- who are you to silence my voice?
Cookie's on the Money
Although I don't really think of myself as a Democrat, I find myself feeling pretty mixed feelings these days. Obama makes me excited about politics for the first time in years. Of course, I'm also stoked about the possibility of John "Tiger in a Cage" McCain knocking some sense into the GOP.
Then I hear about this ridiculousness. Yes, it was kind of stupid for the states to move their primary dates around, but fire the state committee chairs, don't punish the voters. And for the love of JFK, don't dare to tell people that you will 'allow' them to participate in the most fundamental aspect of our government. The last time I checked it was people that made the party, not the other way around. The DNC should have figured out a way to make it work. Now they stand to alienate 2 key states in what may be the hottest election in decades.
So I guess my question to the Activote Dem's would be: When are you guys going to fire Howard Dean anyway? Can you just let Harry Reid do everything? Chuck Schumer seems to have a pretty open schedule these days.