Sunday, August 26, 2007

When Primaries Collide

It's refreshing to see the Democratic party stepping up to their role as traffic cop in it's primary process.... "DNC Strips Florida of 2008 Delegates."

That's right. The Democratic National Committee makes, and enforces, the party primary rules.... and yesterday they sent a strong message.

The DNC stripped Florida of their nominating presidential delegates because they crashed into line, accelerating their primary date to January 29, creating a bumper-car confusion among the scheduled early primary and caucus states.

Allowed to stand, Florida's maneuver would push New Hampshire to an earlier primary date, and Iowa's first-in-the-nation January caucus would carom forward to either early January or even the December holiday season.

But Florida can still decide to count.... if they want their Democratic delegates reinstated, they have 30 days to reschedule their primary to after February 5.

Making a stand for orderly process, DNC member Garry Shays of California reminded the states, "Rules are rules. California abided by them, and Florida should as well. To ignore them would open the door to chaos."

Michigan is also revving up for a possible early primary run.... "Michigan's legislature is on the verge of approving a January 15 date - a move that would violate the same Democratic rule that Florida faces punishment for breaking. The Michigan Republican State Committee voted yesterday to endorse the new date."

So, will Michigan have two primaries? Will the Democratic party opt to lose their delegates and go with the earlier date?... hopefully not.

Reason tells us that the point of the primary process for presidential elections is to accumulate enough delegates to win the party's nomination. That's why the belligerent statement of Florida's Democratic party chair, Karen Thurman, is so inane , "Whether you get a delegate or don't get a delegate, a vote is a vote.... That is what Floridians are going to say is important."

Oh really? Having no representation in the selection of the Democratic presidential nominee is of no importance? Having the Democratic candidates skip campaigning in the fourth-most-populous state because they don't have any delegates isn't important?

We nominate Karen Thurman for Florida's Election Process Hall of Shame.... joining the 2000 election GOP capo Katherine Harris, and Chad who was hanging around anyway.

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