Michigan Senate Refuses to Restore 4 Democrats to Ballot, Leaving Hillary Clinton

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's Jan. 15 primary ballot will include just half the Democratic candidates for president.

The state Senate on Tuesday refused to take up legislation that would have restored the names of four Democratic presidential candidates to the ballot who withdrew earlier from the primary.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, blamed Democrats for not being on the same page with each other.

Some labor groups that support candidate John Edwards have tried blocking the bill putting the candidates back on the ballot because they still favor a caucus, even though a caucus is very unlikely at this point.

"Until they can resolve their differences and come forward with a unified plan, there's no need for us to take it up," Bishop told reporters.

Edwards, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson last month pulled their names from the ballot because the state violated Democratic National Committee rules by moving up its election.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said it's doubtful those Democrats will be on the ballot and blamed Republicans for not allowing a vote.

more.... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313306,00.html

Hillary kept her name in Michigan and Florida, while everyone else was lapdogging Dean's punishment of Democrats in those states that supported an earlier primary.

They should have thought it through. If Hillary wins unopposed, and the Michigan and Florida delegates are seated at the Denver Convention (after a successful floor fight to get seated), Dean's lapdogs got no one to blame but themselves. Tough!

So we get a tainted primary election on two key states. That should go a long way in uniting the base!:sarcasm:

and their insane and misguided disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan Democrats.

That is, of course, if "one" is a decent, moral, non-selfish member of society whose word means anything more than just what will gain momentary tactical advantage.

I am sick to death of the self-righteous rebelliousness of the self-proclaimed downtrodden. An evocation of one's own "rights" in this manner is a huge "fuck you" to everybody else.

The party is ABSOLUTELY in the right here: it has clearly stated the rules, and the members have the mechanism at hand to change it; they just didn't have the foresight or gumption to do so. You don't wake up one day and decide that you should be able to drive down the other side of a one-way street and get all pissed off and huffy when people try to stop you; you petition the government and follow procedure to get it changed to a two-way street.

Anarchy, like libertarianism, only benefits the strong, and this is precisely the case here: it's primitive greed and unscrupulousness masquerading as sweet, innocent recourse from the poor darlings who have been so wickedly oppressed. Dean is a hero for holding the line here. Heroes of the past like Levin should be ashamed.

Where were these devious insurrectionists a few years ago when they could have made their case in an organized way? Now we're just supposed to let them upset everybody's plans because they want a bigger chunk of the money, the bragging rights and say-so? That's repulsive. I live in California; how would they like it if we decided to go first? Imagine the plaintive cries.

I hope Florida and Michigan delegates are NOT seated at the convention, and I hope it's a brokered convention so they have to seethe at being shut out as a momentous decision is made without any input from them.

This is absolutely deplorable: it's childish, reckless and selfish beyond any justification.

Yes, the advantages of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are unfair, but if it mattered so much to people, they should have worked within the system to get it changed. There's no doubt in any sensible minds that an overwhelming majority would like to change this, so there's every reason to expect that an orderly, adult attempt to change it would work. Instead, solipsistic crazies DEMAND their redress at the expense of everyone else, and use the bullshit excuse of "fairness" to justify being outrageously disruptive.

This only benefits the richest and best-known candidates and is beyond being simply ill-mannered. Marginal but worthy candidates like Dodd marshall all their resources for a careful strategy based on a pre-arranged timetable, and if anything takes that away from them, they suffer more than anyone. Clinton can just throw more money and people at it and take advantage of it. She's happy they have sleazy morals; that must make her feel downright homey there: they're just like her, and she'll happily step in and get votes any way she can.

I am as appalled by anybody who doesn't see the clear ethical issue here as I am by those who don't see the McClurkin stunt for what it is. Society is based on agreement, rules and mutual respect.

Morality is not "what you can get away with" and fairness isn't "getting your due at the expense of others", but these are obviously quaint and foreign concepts to many. This is the dark side of the voice of the militant victim: ME FIRST.

I really wish we stayed with our caucus plan so we could vote for any of the candidates. Funny how soon after it became very clear we were going with whatever benefitted Clinton the most Granholm came out with an endorsement (termed out, not wildly successful/popular Governor bucking for a cabinet position??).

Where I disagree is the convention. Florida and Michigan delegates will be seated as they should be. We don't want the Dems in these states to not turn out on election day. Believe me, it is better the Dem masses be allowed to blissfully believe MI is unquestionably blue. It's very purple and we have to fight hard to put it in the blue column every race. No one wants to see MI in the red column this time 'round. Florida either.

As to the whole Iowa/NH having to first nonsense....fuck them. It's time they lost that claim to fame and let a little diversity in. Gosh can you imagine an industrial state (that is hurting like no other) having some say early on? What a novel concept for those self-centered crybabies to consider.

Julie

Shame on MI and FL. If they wanted to change the process, they had 4 years to do so, they didn't need to do so like this. They have needlessly divided our party and created undue headache, not to mention put entire states in jeopardy for the eventual nominee.

of their choice? Sheesh!

by stripping them of all and any delegates they elected in their primaries.

The assholes that went along with the DNC by taking their names off the ballot deserve neither sympathy nor support. Instead of allying themselves with the Democratic voters, they chose to sleep with Chairman Dean and his gang of merry gnomes.

:rofl:

of their choice? Sheesh!

brought this on themselves? Maybe they're responsible for why their voters are in the fix they are in?

if they want the primary season changed, don't do it 3 months before the first primary. Sorry, I'm with Dean on this one.

that use their always fucking first caucus in the nation as a welfare bonanza, lining their pockets with the money generated by candidates, their entourages, and the media flock that follows them.

Iowa has always chosen a LOSER!

Michigan and Florida have more electoral votes than that shitty little state that always wants to be first.

You're embarassing yourself. You are better than this. Comparing Dean to Stalin--shameful.

Why should they be allowed to break the rules?

Getting exceedingly tired of hearing what "Michigan" and "Florida" did, and how that justifies disenfranchizing voters.

The voters of Michigan did not do ANYTHING to justify having our votes taken away. Nor did Iowa or NH do ANYTHING to deserve their unearned privilege.

As usual.

I just know this kind of mish-mash of state politics may be detrimental to the democratic process.

Both will be beauty contest races...and if Clinton wants to be all uppity about winning Michigan because she went against Democratic party rules, so be it.

Imagine the national TV networks showing how Chariman Dean and his DNC lapdogs disenfranchised Democrats in MI and FL. How can we accuse the GOP of disenfranchising voters when the DNC does the same thing?

And could this affect the outcome, potentially??

especially when you're in the weeds already...

Let the voters choose between the candidates. This is a big state with deep and profound problems, many caused by the Bush cabal.

I was born and raised there, and want to go back and retire there eventually. The voters should not be disenfranchised.

call your state legislature and Gov. Granholm and tell them to stop disenfranchising you.

DK tried to pull his name off, and somehow missed the deadline, submitted late, so he stays on...what a fucking joke. Not that anyone is going to vote for him anyway, but still....

Can we please all agree that the IA 1st method is unfair to the rest of the country? Can we please come to a solution we all like? It shouldn't be that hard.

Republicans To Move Forward With Presidential Primary

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Senate Majority Leader Michael D. Bishop (R-Rochester) released the following statement today regarding the Jan. 15 presidential primary in Michigan:

"The presidential primary will take place on January 15 and the citizens of our state will have the opportunity to help choose their party's nominee for president. Senate Republicans believe the early primary date makes Michigan a player in the process of choosing our next president. Our state has many unique issues and concerns and our citizens have a strong interest in engaging all candidates on these issues.

"We are very disappointed that several Democratic candidates have chosen to boycott Michigan and not participate in Michigan's open process. It is in the interest of our state and Michigan voters that we move forward with our primary election despite some Democrats' desire to choose a candidate behind closed doors.

"Our state is facing a host of problems and it should be incumbent upon the presidential candidates to weigh in and offer up their solutions. To that end, Republicans supported a primary in which all candidates earn their parties' nomination by a vote of the people. Democrats clearly disagree, and so it appears Republicans will move forward with an open primary pursuant to state law.

"The unfortunate truth is that Democrats chose to bicker and obstruct when they could have given the people of this state a greater voice in the presidential nominating process.

"Senate Democrats have called this a `missed opportunity'" and they are absolutely correct. The `missed opportunity' rests squarely with their leaders' inability to take the final legislative action to insure an open primary process with the complete slate of candidates."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fucking republicans. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

until so many states wanted to be first in the primaries. This matter should have been settled at the committee level early in the year...it was not and became a public brouhaha.

It is not 'fair' to deprive the voters of any state, their choice for candidates. Can Michigan/others also involved use write-ins?

Awful lot of 'politics' this year based upon nothing but 'instant gratification.

Unfortunately.

What Michigan and Florida did could hurt the whole party badly next year.

Chairman Dean should be given a Mister Microphone for Xmas and cut loose in the middle of Times Square on New Year's Eve!

The Democratic nominee will pick the next DNC Chair, and the nominee is not going to be one of those candidates that shunned Florida and Michigan.

to grasp? FL and MI agreed to the rules for this election years ago. They broke their agreements with the DNC.

Fuck them.

this was a republican powergrab. They knew exactly what they were doing. This wasn't about getting their votes in first, this was an effort to silence the democratic voters in these states. The dem's were out numbered in both states. Now, for people like me, where it matters greatly how my candidate does in the primaries, I have no voice.

that's news to me. So, unless the Rs control 2/3s of both houses, how could they have changed the primary date solely to screw over the Dems?

In FL, I know for a fact, the Dems went along with and encouraged the change.

The DNC says that Florida could have applied to hold an early primary when it was developing the calendar, but didn't. Why not?
In Florida, the Legislature is controlled by Republicans. Democrats must prioritize what they work on to achieve the best they can for Floridians. An early primary was never a priority for Democrats, who were and are more concerned with issues such as insurance reform, healthcare for children, and improving our schools. The first that Florida Democratic legislators heard of the Republicans' plan to move the primary was in November 2006, when Speaker Marco Rubio announced it. That was well past the deadline to apply to the DNC to hold an early primary.

The Rules say you had to try to stop the primary move, but Democrats voted for the law. What gives?
Initially, before a specific date had been decided upon by the Republicans, some Democrats did actively support the idea of moving earlier in the calendar year. That changed when Rubio announced he wanted to break the Rules of the Democratic and Republican National Committees. Following this announcement, DNC and Florida Democratic Party staff talked about the possibility that our primary date would move up in violation of Rule 11.A.

Party leaders, Chairwoman Thurman and members of Congress then lobbied Democratic members of the Legislature through a variety of means to prevent the primary from moving earlier than February 5th. Party leadership and staff spent countless hours discussing our opposition to and the ramifications of a pre-February 5th primary with legislators, former and current Congressional members, DNC members, DNC staff, donors, activists, county leaders, media, legislative staff, Congressional staff, municipal elected officials, constituency leaders, labor leaders and counterparts in other state parties. In response to the Party's efforts, Senate Democratic Leaders Geller and Wilson and House Democratic Leaders Gelber and Cusack introduced amendments to CS/HB 537 to hold the Presidential Preference Primary on the first Tuesday in February, instead of January 29th. These were both defeated by the overwhelming Republican majority in each house.

The primary bill, which at this point had been rolled into a larger legislation train, went to a vote in both houses. It passed almost unanimously. The final bill contained a whole host of elections legislation, much of which Democrats did not support. However, in legislative bodies, the majority party can shove bad omnibus legislation down the minority's throats by attaching a couple of things that made the whole bill very difficult, if not impossible, to vote against. This is what the Republicans did in Florida, including a vital provision to require a paper trail for Florida elections. There was no way that any Florida Democratic Party official or Democratic legislative leader could ask our Democratic members, especially those in the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, to vote against a paper trail for our elections. It would have been embarrassing, futile, and, moreover, against Democratic principles.




http://www.makeitcountflorida.com/page/content/makeitcount-faqs/

Perhaps the DNC could help the FL dem Party hold a privately run caucus/primary on Feb 5th.

If it is truly not the Dems fault, and there was nothing they could have reasonably done about it, then something should be worked out (with recognition of the early primary as a last resort).

this just does not sit well with me, at all. They even claim, somewhere on that site, that even though our votes won't count, our voices will still be heard....yeah, right.

thanks so much.

A party's primary is a private affair of that party and it bothers me that a state legislature controlled by the other party would intentionally abuse its power to set the primary to cause havoc.

I think the DNC and state parties should run the primaries themselves, getting only funding from the state, to prevent this from happening.

Shame on the Florida Legislature.

:P