The Political Voices of Women

There has been a lot of talk about tonight’s roll call vote.  Some didn’t want it to happen at all, and others want to have it cut-off before it is even finished.  Personally, I think the Democratic party owes it to the voters to complete this roll call, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen.  Anyway, here is what other bloggers are saying about the roll call vote.  Once the roll call vote is over, I will update this post.  In the meantime let me know what you think in comments.

From McClatchy Election 2008 Blog…

Remember the good old political convention days, when the roll call of the states was the highlight of the convention?
Good luck finding the roll call Wednesday.

A roll call is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. MDT, dinner time back east. It’s not clear how many states will participate–even delegates aren’t being told.

This much is known: At some point, a Hillary Clinton supporter will move to nominate Barack Obama, probably unanimously, and that will be it.

Just don’t ask who will do it or when. No one really knows yet.

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Hillary Clinton’s name will be placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention. I think this is a smart move, and possibly the only way to bring Obama and Clinton supporters together. It’s more of a symbolic gesture than anything else, that will honor Hillary Clinton’s historic bid for the White House. I imagine this decision may also contribute to more people wanting to watch the convention from home. And…until the bitter end, I will still hold out hope that Obama makes Hillary his running mate.

Here is some of what is being reported on this around the web…

ABC News’ Kate Snow reports…

A deal has been brokered between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that will allow Clinton’s name to be placed in nomination at next week’s Democratic nominating convention, sources close to the Clinton camp told ABC News.

“Both sides agree that it is in the best interest of party unity and making sure that everyone’s voice and vote is honored to make sure her name is put into nomination,” a person close the negotiations said. “It’s to honor everyone who worked so hard on both sides.”

Clinton’s Historic Bid To Be Honored…

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will have her name placed into nomination at the Democratic Convention in Denver later this month, people involved in the talks said, and the Obama and Clinton teams are preparing to make a joint announcement about how the question of honoring Clinton’s historic bid has been resolved. It was not immediately clear whether that will include a full roll-call vote or some other mechanism — the arrangements were apparently still being worked out late last night — but people close to Clinton expressed a high degree of satisfaction with how the conversations with the Obama campaign had gone.

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The question seems to be…What does Hillary Want? Does she want to be VP? Or, is it something more? What do you hope she wants? What do you hope she gets? Here is a video of Senator Clinton speaking to supporters…

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This is from a story I found by Katharine Q. Seelye at The New York Times…

Senator Hillary Clinton asked the question herself on the night of the last primaries in early June: “What does Hillary want?”

That’s still a bit of a mystery, particularly as she and Senator Barack Obama negotiate over her role, and possibly that of her husband, at the Democratic convention in Denver and beyond.

Mr. Obama has given Mrs. Clinton a speaking role on the Tuesday night of the convention. But she made it clear in a recent chat with supporters — that she is steeped in negotiations over how to salve the wounds of her disappointed supporters so that they don’t stray in November. She suggested she may allow her name to be placed in nomination, and also that her supporters don’t need her permission to do that on their own.

From Pamela Leavey of The Democratic Daily - Clinton Seeks Democratic Convention Voices…

Senator Hillary Clinton wants her delegates to have a voice at the upcoming Democratic Convention… And rightly so. Like all candidates before her, who have fought a hard primary battle and have had committed supporters and delegates, Clinton wants her supporters to be heard. It’s not unusual… And yet, for some reason, it seems that some Clinton supporters are still out there misconstruing it all.

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While you were sleeping, DNC and RNC held discussions about primary systems.

Mention the word ‘primary’ to a Floridian and chances are a scowl will slide across his or her face because the 4th largest state in the USA lost delegates when both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee penalized states for pushing primaries ahead of dates set in the cornerstone of party rules. The National Presidential Caucus convened a roundtable discussion with party leaders in New York on June 24. Timing is critical—the RNC mandates that primary rules and dates be agreed upon at the national convention. This year the RNC’s convention will be held in September in Minneapolis. The makeup of the roundtable participants is interesting to say the least.

The DNC isn’t quite as constrained. That committee can address its rules whenever it wants to. The RNC appears to be leaning towards a format named The Ohio Plan. Predictably, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada will continue to enjoy frontrunner status. Larger states like Florida, Michigan, California and New York would be part of a second tier holding primaries in early February. But both parties need, according to the discussion, to have “congruence” in their primary rules and plans. Michael A. Mauro, Iowa Secretary of State participated in the roundtable. Here’s a not very surprising comment from him, “…I praise this bi-partisan group’s recognition of the importance of maintaining the traditional roles of both Iowa and New Hampshire as first in the nation.” Please note Florida set its primary date exactly the way those states did, by legislative procedure. A state should be able to determine and set its own date as long as the legislative process is followed. I can see each party setting target dates for states to choose from. But I do not agree with anointing 4 states permanent frontrunner status. Everybody complained about the 2008 primary season. My question is why? It worked fine—the DNC race was of course particularly exciting and the RNC race surprised the hell out of every GOP voter I talked to, in Florida anyway. The breakdown occurred when both parties confiscated delegates.

The mindset both political parties have towards this matter is reflective of the Federal government at present—controlling matters best left to the states. Whether you’re for the GOP or the DNC, your voice means just as much as a voter’s in Iowa, New Hampshire or the other lucky duckies with permanent frontrunner status. Check out your nearest presidential history record for the impact of frontrunner states on who the nominee is. Here’s an indisputable fact: when the candidates go looking for bucks, they hit Florida and other states just as enthusiastically as they do the party favorites.

For a clear look at who’s making recommendations about your political party, check out the other videos at The National Presidential Caucus. Not a single female is present from either party and there’s about as much diversity as you’ll find in a bowl of cloned goldfish. I’d suggest a letter to your political party leaders sooner rather than later.

Tags: Presidential Primary, US Politics, Political Party Rules, delegates, political conventions, National Presidential Caucus

I would like to welcome Celtic Diva to The Political Voices of Women Community, and thank her for contributing this excellent guest post.

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

This year, the Democratic National Committee decided to do something new for the National Convention. They decided to create a “State Blogger Pool” by credentialing one blog to sit with each state delegation on the Convention floor.

Several weeks ago, my blog “Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis” was honored to be chosen as Alaska’s blog in Denver this August.

While all of us who were chosen were euphoric and dealing with the new-found attention, there was trouble brewing among some of the blogs who were not selected. Some of them were blogs who felt they better fit the criteria as a “state blog” and felt that their past criticism of their state or local Democratic Party effected the outcome. (Several had verifiable proof.)

However, there was another accusation that was much more controversial and mostly ignored in the blogosphere…until the mainstream media got the story. Several “blogs-of-color” claimed that all of the blogs in the State Blogger Pool were “white-male blogs“…suggesting that the DNC designed that on purpose. Two of the black bloggers claimed that since the State Blogs had special floor access the DNC did not want “black people on the floor.”

I was one of the state bloggers and not male so I took exception. The discussion became a back-and-forth with one of the black bloggers where I questioned how it was possible to know the ethnicity and gender and of all state bloggers due to “Internet anonymity.” I also commented that there were still a number of blogs to be selected in the General Blogger Pool. It was pointed out to me that the General Pool didn’t have the same floor access that the State Bloggers did. I commented that the blogs raising the issue were also mostly nationally focused. I explained that when I saw state focus was part of the criteria, it motivated me to change my focus more to state issues. I claimed that’s what was needed if they wanted to fit the state blogger criteria. The blogger interpreted that to mean I was saying that blacks were “lazy” and accused me of being racist.

I believe this debate is indicative of many discussions on race. It was interesting how many people were watching our conversation but no one else from the white community was jumping in, unless they were doing their own story on it. I participated in a less emotional discussion on another blog and it was very hard to get people to talk. Folks were also afraid of being labeled as a “racist.”

However, if we don’t take that risk there is no dialogue. Honest discussion means that we will slip-up or be misunderstood. We have to keep our cool and force ourselves to see the issue behind the other person’s view even if we are offended by how they make that argument. All participants in a debate on race have to resist the temptation to blame and work together towards true long-term solutions in order to succeed.

Everyone has a part here: The Democratic National Committee needs to more thoroughly think through a solution to inadequate participation by “bloggers of color.” The blogosphere needs to more actively work towards integration and help and encourage minority bloggers. Lawmakers need to aggressively push for greater access to the Internet regardless of economic status. I believe that correcting those areas is the only way to ensure the same thing does not happen at the next Democratic National Convention.

The issue struck home with me when I looked around at my esteemed fellow-bloggers at the Alaska Democratic Convention. While we saw much diversity among the delegates, we bloggers were three white men and a white woman.

I want to be part of the solution and I want to find more writers-of-color to be contributors to “Blue Oasis,”especially Alaska Native writers. Alaska’s diversity needs to be better represented in the blogosphere.

BREAKING: Barack Obama Becomes The First African American Presidential Nominee.

Barack Obama wins the historic Democratic nomination, and becomes the first African-American Presidential Nominee. I will follow-up later tonight and tomorrow with video clips of speeches by Obama, Clinton, and McCain. Until then, our discussion on Healing The Democratic Party is open, and I would love to hear your comments on how you think that can be done. Would Hillary as Obama’s running mate help the healing process? Here is what has been released by The Associated Press…

Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the first black candidate to lead a major party into a campaign for the White House.

Vanquished rival Hillary Rodham Clinton swiftly signaled an interest in joining the ticket as his running mate.

Obama arranged a victory celebration in St. Paul, Minn., at the site of this summer’s Republican National Convention _ an in-your-face gesture to Sen. John McCain, who will be his opponent in the race to become the nation’s 44th president.

The 46-year-old Obama outlasted Clinton in a historic campaign that sparked record turnouts in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.

In a campaign of surprises, Clinton’s comments about joining the ticket rated high.

According to one participant in an afternoon conference call among Clinton and members of the New York congressional delegation, Rep. Nydia Velazquez said she believed the best way for Obama to win over Hispanics and members of other key voting blocs would be to take the former first lady as his running mate.

“I am open to it,” Clinton replied, if it would help the party’s prospects in November, said the participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was a private matter.

read full article here

Also See:

Will She or Won’t She? Not Even The Pundits Know For Sure

Can the healing of the Democratic party begin now? Tomorrow will be the end of a very long primary season, and time for Clinton and Obama to come together. I guess the real question will be…Can the supporters come together? Is unity of the Democratic Party possible? What do you think?

Obama Promises To Work With Clinton In November…

Barack Obama said Monday he and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton will be “working together in November” despite fears by some that the Democratic Party will be divided after the long and bitter primary campaign.On the eve of the final two primaries, Obama told a rally and town hall-style meeting in this Detroit suburb that he understands there have been “some worries about whether the Democratic Party will be divided when it’s all over.”

From The Huffington Post…

Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her New York speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama - if not that night, within a day or two.

Obama and Clinton spoke Sunday night and agreed that their staffs should begin negotiations over post-primary activities, according to reliable sources. In addition to seeking Obama’s help in raising money to pay off some $20 million-plus in debts, Clinton is known to want Obama to assist black officials who endorsed her and who are now taking constituent heat, including, in some cases, primary challenges from pro-Obama politicians.

“This has never happened before,” one donor said, referring to the personalized request by email to attend the event in New York Tuesday night.

Obama is expected to claim enough delegates to put him over the top that night at a separate event in St. Paul.

In an afternoon conference call today with about two dozen top fundraisers, Clinton strategist Harold Ickes spoke in very conciliatory terms about Obama, in contrast to his tougher rhetoric in public and on television, according to sources. He told the participants that Clinton wants to “significantly” help Obama, but he did not go so far as saying that she will announce withdrawal — that is the prerogative of the candidate.

From Tales from the Trail…

Speaking to reporters outside a Rite-Aid distribution center in Waterford, Michigan, the Illinois senator gave more details about a conversation he had with Clinton when he called her on Sunday to congratulate her on her win in Puerto Rico.

“There aren’t many people who understand exactly how hard she’s been working. I’m one of them,” Obama said of their hard-fought race.

“I told her that once the dust has settled, I was looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing,” he said.

Obama, who hopes he will rack up enough delegates this week to clinch the Democratic nomination, has been making a point of publicly praising the New York senator. His hope is to ease divisions that have opened up in the party during the months of campaigning.

Some Democrats worry the rift among Democratic voters may put the party at a disadvantage in the November election against Republican Sen. John McCain.

What do you think? Will the healing begin? Can the Democratic Party unite?

Here is a guest post by Penny Ronning from The NonSilent Majority.

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

As the Rules and Regulations Committee of the DNC convenes today, I can’t help but wonder…

When Americans in political positions of leadership subvert the freedoms of American citizens and American Democracy how are their actions any different from dictators that deny their citizens the right to a valid vote?

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the T’s…

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Blog Roundup: Florida Recount and Sexism Sells — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Have you wondered What Actually Happened in Florida?

“…For the millionth time, Florida Democrats had no power to block the moving of Florida’s primary election. Thus, the DNC should not have “punished” Florida Democrats.Our state legislature moved the primary dates, an entity on which the DNC’s rules are not legally binding. Our State House has about 77 Republicans to 43 Democrats. Republicans constitute about 60% of our State Senate.

In short, Florida Republicans can unilaterally pass or block any legislation they want. They could have moved the primary date without a single Dem vote.

This is from a post at BlogHer by PunditMom…

Interestingly, while the Democratic National Committee, as well as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are still trying to figure out what to do with the votes case in the Florida primary, Obama is pushing ahead in the Sunshine State with his own GOTV efforts. It strikes me as a little funny that the Obama campaign is pushing hard in Florida when he doesn’t want the primary votes to count, but wants them to matter in the November general election. That could leave Florida voters scratching their heads

From Faye at Anderson@Large…

I missed the drama of Election Night 2000. After NBC called Florida for Al Gore shortly before 8 p.m., I turned off the TV and zonked out. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up and discovered that the election was too close to call.I hoped to atone by researching, writing and producing a film about the recount debacle. The documentary, “Counting on Democracy,” aired on PBS stations nationwide. I’ve also screened it at countless colleges and community organizations.

In a primary season full of twists and turns, we’ve come full circle. In voting-challenged Broward County, they’re chanting “count every vote” like it’s 2000. And the head cheerleader is Hillary Clinton — read full post

This is by Jill from Brilliant at breakfast…

This weekend, John McCain has invited some prospective running mates to one of his eight homes, presumably for barbecue. Specifically, those being interviewed are the closeted governor of Florida, a card-carrying member of the Christofascist Zombie brigade who thinks joking about bombing Iran and about assassinating a black presidential nominee constitute humor, and Paulie Walnuts.

The Obama running mate hunt is just beginning, despite the Clinton campaign’s attempt to rewrite history and spin the Florida/Michigan situation as being (pick one) Zimbabwe, Florida 2000, or Jim Crow, even though it was HER VERY OWN PEOPLE who helped put together, and voted for, the rules that put us into this mess.

I haven’t got a freaking clue who Obama should pick, but I’m emphatically opposed to the so-called “dream ticket.” It’s clear that Barack Obama can’t trust Hillary Clinton one bit, and there’s something Shakespearean about the idea of a young president with the wife of a former president as his #2, with said former president lurking around the hallways. — read full post

This is from Kay at Covering Florida…

Sen. Barack Obama is spending time in Florida, venturing here now that dust has settled over national party leaders’ decision to make outcasts of Democratic voters in the state. I’ve said it before and I’ve had it said to me many times: media loves Barack Obama. Another media triumph in the Obama arena is a contributing editor from ‘National Journal’—Linda Douglass officially moves into a new role as Obama strategist and spokesperson, according to Politico blogger Ben Smith. Douglass interviewed the senator’s campaign manager in April. My, how she must have struggled with her “objectivity.”

I’ve pointed out figures before, from a study done by the Committee for Concerned Journalists. In early campaign coverage, here’s a breakdown on stories about the current candidates, with each statistic reflecting a percentage of positive or negative stories about the candidate. Of Hillary Clinton stories, 26.9 percent were positive; 37.8 percent were negative. Of Barack Obama stories, 46.7 percent were positive; 15.8 percent were negative. And coming as no surprise when it comes to media and conservatives, of John McCain stories, 12.4 percent were positive and 47.9 were negative. — read full post

Check out Florida Speaks, for more links to Florida bloggers.

From Pandagon…

Wow, talk about hardball. This was on CNN this AM, and it looks like the Clinton camp is tossing out some kind of not-so-veiled convention chaos blackmail card for the VP slot, and/or a way for the New York senator to have a face-saving exit strategy. The report from Suzanne Malveaux describes three scenarios being floated by people “inside Hillary’s innner circle.”

From The Women’s Media Center…

From PunditMom…

When someone calls Hillary Clinton a bitch, it’s not just about her.

It’s about me and my fellow MOMocrats and my sister. It’s about my mother and my aunts and my daughter. It’s about mothers and friends and women who haven’t even become the next generation of leaders, yet.

Of course, as the Women’s Media Center rightly points out in its new video called Sexism Sells, But We’re Not Buying It Anymore, we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. The MSM doesn’t limit its use of terms like “soppy,” “bitchy,” “castrating,” “nagging,” or “Wicked Witch of the West” to Hillary.

The most famous and infamous TV pundits aren’t reserving their ‘looks are everything’ moments to talk of Hillary’s cleavage or wrinkles. There are no limits. We are all fair game. — read full post