Mich. delegates may get seats, though it's unclear how
Second Dem vote not likely for state
BY TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • February 17, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Pretty much everyone expects some or all of Michigan's delegates to be seated at this summer's Democratic presidential nominating convention in Denver.
It's the "how" that is anyone's guess.
Dismissed as a meaningless beauty pageant and ignored for campaigning by all the top Democrats, Michigan's Jan. 15 primary seems to be gaining influence because one of those Democrats, Hillary Clinton, didn't take her name off the Democratic ballot and, consequently, easily won the uncontested race.
Now, from political pundits to the candidates themselves, everyone is talking about Michigan -- and Florida -- as a razor-thin margin separates Clinton and Barack Obama.
Like Florida, Michigan was stripped of its 128 regular and 28 super delegates to the nominating convention because it held an early primary in violation of national party rules. The Republican Party stripped each state of half of its delegates.
Among the Democrats, Obama and others who were still in the race took their names off Michigan's ballot. Clinton remained on the ballot but refused to campaign in the state.
Now, Clinton wants the delegates to be seated -- she won in Michigan and in Florida, where all the candidates were on the ballot -- and it could erase Obama's advantage in delegates; Obama, on the other hand, says he sees a role for both states only if it's done "without skewing the delegate count."
In the days immediately after the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday, which at one point was considered certain to produce a clear leader, there was wide speculation about holding a second election in Michigan -- a so-called do-over in the form of a party-run caucus or convention.
Increasingly, however, there seems to be little appetite for a second try.
Said Democratic National Committee member Joel Ferguson of Lansing on Friday: "It's not going to happen." The state's Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer agrees that logistically it would be all but impossible.
Initially, some Obama supporters said they liked the idea, but early last week, Michiganders for Obama posted a letter on its Web site, saying it concurred with the national campaign's position that a do-over caucus was not the way to go.
But a national spokesman for Obama said that was never the campaign's position and quoted the candidate as saying Feb. 7 that "if there is a way of organizing something in those states where both Sen. Clinton and I can compete, and we have enough time to make our case" he would support it.
Former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, who cochairs Clinton's campaign in the state, said the primary results should be certified because Obama had a chance to compete and didn't.
"We're not going to redo it," Blanchard said.
The issue has been divisive in the African-American community. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond argued last week for seating the Michigan and Florida delegates, saying that not doing so would disenfranchise minorities.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader, fired back, saying it wouldn't be fair to do so after the fact since the DNC decided those primaries wouldn't count.
What's next?
Officials will wait to see if results from contests March 4 in Texas and Ohio define a winner, though most experts expect the race to remain tight. In the absence of the emergence of a winner, the decision could fall into the lap of the party's credentials committee. And it's possible, if the race stays tight, that no compromise could be made for months if neither side blinks.
"I think the DNC is going to look at all the options, that you cannot disenfranchise the people who've already voted," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm. "The bottom line is Michigan's delegates will be seated."
But first, someone will have to blink.
the "personal" is political
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