The Political Voices of Women

No Re-Vote For Florida Primary — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)

As a Florida resident and a registered Democrat, I have blogged several times on my annoyance as well as outrage I am feeling over Florida delegates not being counted. My most recent post was – Should Florida and Michigan Have Do-Over Primaries? (there are actually 68 comments ranging from – why people think we should have revote to why they think we should just shut-up and take our punishment for breaking the rules).

I was really holding out hope that the Florida legislator would find a way to at least have a mail-in revote. It seems to me this would have been the best solution, but it apparently doesn’t seem that way to the Florida Democratic Party officials.
Hillary Clinton continues to try and keep a plan for two revotes alive.

New York Times – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s hopes of ending the primaries with game-changing victories from new contests in Florida and Michigan grew dim on Tuesday as Florida officially scuttled plans for a new vote and Michigan lawmakers appeared far from a deal.

In a sign of how badly she thinks she needs the Michigan delegates to catch the Democratic front-runner, Senator Barack Obama, Mrs. Clinton made a last-minute schedule change and planned to fly to Detroit on Wednesday to plead with Michigan lawmakers to approve a new primary election in June to replace the January contest that awarded no delegates.

“We will go and make the case for a revote,” said Mo Elleithee, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Obama’s campaign has resisted a new contest, saying that Michigan Democrats are divided, that a revote would not make much difference in the overall delegate count and that the Clinton camp was trying to change the rules to suit itself.

I’m happy to see that Hillary Clinton is willing to stand-up against the DNC and fight for Florida and Michigan voters. I am, however, very disappointed that none of the democratic nominees made any attempt to stand-up for us at the time Howard Dean was making these ridiculous punishments. I think if one or all of them had stood up to Howard Dean and refused to allow him to disenfranchise Florida or Michigan voters, things would be a lot different right now. But instead, they all went along with him…more like followers than leaders. Instead we just have Barack who doesn’t care at all about us, and Hillary who only cares because she needs our delegates. That’s not going to play so well in the general election.

In my opinion, if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination there is a chance that Florida could go blue in November. Floridians obviously like her, and they do see her as someone at least trying to help the people of Florida. Even though she was a little late to the party, she is at least here now. But you can’t say the same for Barack Obama. It’s my opinion that many Florida voters are disappointed in him for his lack of concern over whether or not our votes count, and that’s a pretty big deal. For that reason, I believe that if Barack Obama is the Democratic Nominee, Florida will most likely be red in November. Although, if he unites with Hillary and begins to fight for the voting rights of Michigan and Florida, this could turn the tables for him.