[NYTr] Cuba - Florida - Obama - Dems - The Bigger Picture Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 21:27:15 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [Lest anyone be foolish enough to think all of the fuss is really about CUBA, here's some background on the national DNC vs the Florida Dems. The bigger picture, as always, is about control and jockeying for power fueled by corruption and yanqui dollars. It is against this background that all the rest of it plays out. -NY Transfer] TIME Mag blogs - Aug 25, 2007 http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/08/florida_vs_the_dnc_1.html Swampland Florida vs. the DNC by Karen Tumulty The Democratic National Committee has taken a hard line against Florida's plans for an extra-early presidential primary, voting to strip it of all of its delegates if it goes ahead with a Jan. 29 date. The move shocked the state party, which now has 30 days to come up with an alternative plan that passes muster with the national party. One possibility would be a "beauty contest" on that date, in which the winner would walk away with bragging rights and good headlines, but no delegates. The state may also start its balloting early, so that candidates will be forced to give it time and attention, but delay counting the votes until after the Feb. 5 "window" opens. The fear, as we have talked about here before, is that if Florida goes ahead with the Jan. 29 primary that has been approved by its GOP-controlled legislature, other big states--Michigan is already moving in that direction--would leap ahead as well. That could force Iowa and New Hampshire to move into 2007. DNC sources tell me that Florida was surprised by the harshness of the sanction, having expected to lose only 50% of its pledged delegates. No one was taking that threat particularly seriously, and the state knew it might even be able to win those delegates back in a floor fight at the convention. The motion to impose the harsher measure was made by Ralph Dawson, a lawyer who grew up in South Carolina, the state that had the most to lose from Florida's move. (Dawson, who has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate, was DNC Chairman Howard Dean's roommate at Yale, as well as a former student of Congressman Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's most influential African-American politician.) And what about the Republicans? Their rules were set at their 2004 convention, and require that if Florida goes ahead on January 29, it would lose half of its GOP delegates. However, that sanction hasn't stopped the candidates from trooping down to the state--something the DNC no doubt took into account as it decided to take its more dramatic step. The DNC may have put its finger in the dike for 2008, but everyone fully expects another stampede by states four years from now. The big states remain frustrated by the outsized influence of Iowa and New Hampshire, and pressure will continue to make their voices louder in the selection of the party nominees. Various fixes have been proposed, including a series of regional primaries with a rotating order of states. However, as one DNC member told me, that would take a difficult-to-engineer agreement on the part of state legistatures and secretaries of state. "The party is not able to fix this," the committee member said. "The states have to fix this." *** The New York Times - Aug 25, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/us/politics/26calendar.html Democrats Take a Tough Line on Florida Primary By ADAM NAGOURNEY WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 b The Democratic National Committee, threatening to take the toughest line possible, voted Saturday to refuse to seat any Florida Democrat at the Democratic presidential convention in 2008 if the state party did not delay the date of its 2008 primary to conform to the partybs nominating calendar. The committee gave Florida Democrats 30 days to propose a primary date that conformed with Democratic rules prohibiting all but four states from holding their primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5. But Florida leaders, who seemed stunned by a near-unanimous vote and the severity of the punishment, said they were doubtful they could come up with an alternative. They said they were bound by the vote of the Republican-controlled State Legislature, which set the primary for Jan. 29. Beyond what is emerging as a clear embarrassment for the party, the practical results of this dispute were unclear. To a considerable extent, it could prove to be little more than a reminder of how little authority the party appears to have over its nominating process this year. Florida Democratic leaders said they were resistant to bowing to the partybs demands, having already refused twice. And assuming the party has a presumptive nominee by the time the convention is seated in Denver next year, it will be the nominee b not party officials b who would have the power to resolve a dispute over who is seated. Aides to several candidates said it was inconceivable that in the end, a Democratic presidential candidate a year from now would penalize a state like Florida, going into a general election, by refusing to seat the statebs delegates. But the aides, who requested anonymity to discuss tactical concerns, suggested that candidates might be wary to invest money and energy in Florida for a delegate-less primary if, at the time, the race is tight and candidates are in a contest to build up the biggest delegate counts. bThere are 30 days for this to get worked out, and our hope is it gets settled in a way that Florida is contributing delegates to the nominating process,b said David Plouffe, the campaign manager for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. bIf they donbt come into compliance, that means they wonbt be contributing any delegates to the contest and this will be nothing more than a straw poll.b The vote by the national committeebs Rules and Bylaws Committee laid bare a sharp division between one of the most politically important states in the country and a party that has been struggling to change its nominating calendar to accommodate party leaders, who object to the dominance Iowa and New Hampshire have enjoyed because they are first in the nominating process. The party voted to allow two states, South Carolina and Nevada, to move their contests to the start of the year to provide regional and ethnic balance, and barred all other states from holding contests before Feb. 5. The debate, coming at a time when other states are also threatening to move up their primaries, was the latest evidence of the extent to which the partybs nominating calendar is in turmoil. bThis process is still a mess,b said Alice Travis Germond, the longtime secretary of the Democratic National Committee. bEight years ago we said it was broken and getting broker. Itbs now broker and getting more broker.b Ms. Germond warned of embarrassing floor fights at the convention if Florida Democrats failed to come up with a date that met the partybs requirements. Karen L. Thurman, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Committee, said she would go back to Florida and discuss what the party should do. The options include creating a state-party-financed primary that would take place after Feb. 5 b something that Ms. Thurman said would be expensive and potentially unfeasible b and challenging the partybs ruling in court. bWe have seen the strong feelings that have been relayed over this,b she said, referring to the committeebs vote. bWe do represent, standing here, a lot of Democrats in the state of Florida b over four million,b she said, adding: bThis is emotional for Florida. And it should be.b Under the rules passed by the Democratic National Committee, if Florida is not in compliance with the calendar it will automatically lose all 25 of its so-called super delegates b basically, elected officials and state party members b and at least half of its regular 185 delegates. But the committee voted, with one dissent, to impose the maximum penalty by refusing to seat any delegates should Florida not return with an acceptable plan. The result was praised by Scott Brennan, the Iowa Democratic chairman, who, along with Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman, flew to Washington for what in other years would have been the most routine of summer meetings by the Rules and Bylaws Committee. bItbs a harsh sanction, but you have to enforce the rules,b Mr. Brennan said. In arguing for the Democrats to allow Florida to go early, Ms. Thurman and other party officials said that the party had unsuccessfully fought the effort by Florida Republicans to move up the date. Again and again, party officials presented themselves as victims rather than protagonists, and asked the party to grant them relief because of that. bWebre asking you for mercy, not judgment,b Jon Ausman, a Democratic leader, told the committee. But James Roosevelt Jr., the rules committeebs co-chairman, said he was not convinced that Florida Democrats had done all they could do. He said it was bclear that the Republicans were the moving force behind the selection of a date that violated both the Republican and the Democratic rules, but that the efforts to oppose that were form over substance.b Committee members made it clear that they wanted to send a message to any state that might be looking to change its primary; the vote came as Michigan leaders are looking to move that statebs primary to Jan. 15. Committee members noted that there had been a long process in setting the calendar. bWe have voted on these rules,b said Donna Brazile, a member of the committee. bThe process was very fair, very democratic in every step that webve taken.b Ms. Brazile suggested that Democrats in Florida, given what happened there in 2000, should be particularly sensitive to what the party was doing. bIbm going to send a message to everybody in Florida b that we are going to follow the rules,b she said. [Michael Falcone contributed reporting.] Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company *** Los Angeles Times - Aug 25, 2007 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dems26aug26,1,1960663.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo Democrats may strip Florida of all delegates Party leaders threaten to exclude the state from presidential nominating convention unless it delays its scheduled January primary. By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON -- The Democratic National Committee voted today to strip Florida of all its presidential convention delegates, threatening to leave the state without a vote for the party's 2008 nominee unless it delays the date of its presidential primary election. The ultimatum marks the most drastic attempt yet by party leaders to impose order among squabbling states that have sought to elbow their balloting closer to the front of the traditional election cycle. The DNC rules and bylaws committee voted overwhelmingly to give Florida's state party 30 days to push back its primary contest by at least a week from Jan. 29, 2008, or risk losing accreditation for its 210 delegates to the party's nominating convention next summer in Denver. A refusal to seat delegates from the nation's fourth-largest state could create divisive floor fights and a public spectacle at a convention normally choreographed to show party unity. The Iowa caucuses traditionally mark the nation's first presidential contest, followed by a statewide primary in New Hampshire. The DNC recently agreed to allow Nevada and South Carolina to join the initial mix to bring more Latino and African American voters into the early balloting, but it barred any other state from holding a binding presidential primary before the first Tuesday in February, which next year is Feb. 5. Officials said after the vote Saturday that they took action in part to send a strong message to Michigan and other states that are considering pushing their party contests into January in violation of the party rules. Karen Thurman, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, argued that she and her colleagues had done everything possible to adhere to the rules. But, she insisted, Republicans who dominate the Legislature in Tallahassee outmaneuvered them by moving the primary date up in a bill that contained crucial election reforms, forcing Democrats to vote for the Jan. 29 date. The Republican governor then signed it into law. Members of the rules committee insisted that Florida still had alternatives, however. The Jan. 29 vote could become a non-binding "beauty contest" or straw vote for Democrats, they noted, to be followed in February by a separate primary, by party caucuses, mail-in vote or other system that would meet the national party's calendar rules. Thurman said a mail-in balloting program would cost $7 million to $8 million, however, and that the money is not available. "This is a difficult situation for all of us," she said. Jon Ausman, a DNC member from Florida, said the state party has investigated setting up 150 party caucuses in February. Although the plan would cost less than $1 million, he warned that caucuses inevitably would draw only a fraction of the state's 4 million Democrats and would disenfranchise the 190,000 Floridians who cast absentee ballots, including many members of the military. "We're asking you for mercy, not judgment," Ausman pleaded. But few committee members offered much sympathy. Garry S. Shay, a panel member from California, noted that his home state contains 7.1 million Democrats and that it "serves as the ATM of the Democratic Party." Yet the state party resisted pressure to move its primary date before Feb. 5. Donna Brazile, a delegate from the District of Columbia, said she hesitated even to offer the Florida party "wiggle room" on its primary date. "Some people will moan, and some people will shout, but we have to follow the rules," she insisted. In the end, the committee voted to give the Florida delegation a 30-day reprieve. "We decided to punt for now," said Harold Ickes, a Democratic operative and former aide to President Clinton. Thurman, the state party chief, said she would confer with state party officials back in Florida. "I think we have seen the strong feelings here," she told reporters. "There is strong emotion." * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . 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