Clinton supporters seem to be buying their way on Florida and Michigan, most especially Florida.
To what am I referring and inferring this stance from? Keep reading...
See this information: Delegate Battles Snarl Democrats in Two States
With this information:
Reflecting how tense the situation has become, influential fund-raisers for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have stepped up their behind-the-scenes pressure on national party leaders to resolve the matter, with some even threatening to withhold their donations to the Democratic National Committee unless it seats the delegates from the two states or holds new primaries there.
The committee penalized Michigan and Florida for holding their primaries early in violation of national party rules, barring their delegates from being seated at the Democratic convention this summer. But with the Democratic contest now a scramble for every remaining delegate, the allocation of delegates from the two states could have a substantial impact on the nomination.
Mrs. Clinton won the primaries in both states, but the contests were not sanctioned by the party, neither candidate campaigned in the states and Mr. Obama did not even put his name on the ballot in Michigan.
Pushing to seat the Florida delegates, at least one top Clinton fund-raiser, Paul Cejas, a Miami businessman who has given the Democratic National Committee $63,500 since 2003, has demanded Democratic officials return his 2007 contribution of $28,500, which they have agreed to do.
“If you’re not going to count my vote, I’m not going to give you my money,” said Mr. Cejas, who was the United States ambassador to Belgium from 1998 to 2001.
Christopher Korge, a Florida real estate developer who is another top fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton, held an event last year in his home that brought in about $140,000 for the national party, which was set aside in a special account for the general election battle in Florida. But he told committee officials this week that if Florida’s delegate conundrum was not settled satisfactorily he would be asking for the money back.
“If we do not resolve this issue,” Mr. Korge said, “I think it’s safe to say there will be a request for a return of $140,000.”
Gotta love that attitude... don't do what we want we demand our money back!
I find it quite interesting that the people doing the most complaining here are Clinton supporters. You see, Mr. Obama and his supporters stood up for what the party deemed to be in their own best interests. I don't believe the party should have been determining when these states were to hold their primaries, but that isn't my place to decide (first, because I'm not a member of the party, and second, because the party can decide what it wants, as granted the power from the people). Once the party did decide and the states knew what was going to happen, they could have negotiated a better result. The thing is, this was known much earlier and the states dragged their feet for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was money spent on plans already made. Once the states proceeded with their 'too early' elections, the national commitee had and has no choice but to ignore the results of those votes because of the rules that the commitee set forth.
Now the argument is about money, and in effect (if you read the quotes in the clip above), you have the Clinton-ites trying to 'buy their way' on getting the votes from Florida counted. They know their gal got the majority of votes there by default. Their gal didn't make any effort to have her name removed from the ballots, or to have voters register some sort of protest vote, or anything else. Their gal figured she'd have these votes to fall back on, and probably never figured she'd have to worry about those votes. She assumed herself that she'd be well out in front and not need those votes and then could welcome the prodigal voters back into the fray at convention time and get to look good by doing it.
Too bad her plans aren't coming to fruition, and too bad these big money donors may not see the results they want here.
I feel a bit of compassion for the voters that are complaining about not having their votes counted, but the party they support, and the commitee that controls it, is who set the rules and these voters and contributors had their opportunity to speak up about not having their votes heard. That opportunity was long ago, but no one assumed this would be the mess it is turning out to be.
I'm enjoying the fireworks and fun as the Democrats yet again get to enjoy their own mess here. It gives us plenty of opportunity to show the hypocrisy of the members of the party at just about every level, and yet again gets us a look at how the Clinton machine works... don't do what they want? They'll take their money and leave thank you!
