Now there’s yet another indication that the Democratic convention this summer is shaping up to be a powder keg battle over the seating of delegates that’s likely to end with deep party rifts: the idea for a redo Michigan primary is now dead:
Ignoring entreaties from state party leaders and an in-person plea from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday, state lawmakers adjourned Thursday without acting on a bill to authorize a do-over of the disqualified Democratic presidential primary held in January, effectively killing any new vote.
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, a Democrat who supports Mrs. Clinton, said in a statement that she was “deeply disappointed” that Michigan Democrats would not get another crack at a primary ballot. The Michigan contest was voided by the national Democratic Party because it was held earlier than party rules allowed.
That means Florida and Michigan will be front-and-center at the convention in August and could basically be locked out unless they find a way to comply with party delegate-selection regulations. In Michigan, some wealthy Clinton donors offered to bankroll a mail-in primary but the Obama camp rejected it for several reasons.
And Clinton and Obama? Both took potshots at each other over the news from Michigan:
Mrs. Clinton, speaking to reporters on Thursday at a campaign stop in Terre Haute, Ind., said that selecting a Democratic presidential candidate without the votes of delegates from Michigan and Florida would call into question the legitimacy of the nominee.
She blamed Mr. Obama for the collapse of the Michigan revote and said it would cripple the party in the general election. “I do not understand what Senator Obama is afraid of,” she said, “but it is going to hurt our party and our chances in November.”
…..“Truth is,” Mr. Obama said, “doing a redo vote is really complicated. For example, you got a bunch of people who didn’t think they could vote in the Democratic primary so they voted in the Republican primary.”
The Obama campaign suggests the fairest resolution would be to split the delegates evenly with Clinton — an idea the Clinton camp rejects.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, an Obama supporter and former presidential candidate, promoted the idea of evenly splitting the delegates between Obama and Clinton. “The best outcome is to come to an arrangement where the delegates are apportioned fairly between Senators Obama and Clinton, so the Michigan delegation can participate fully in the Denver convention,” he said in a statement.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Dodd spoke to campaign leaders about the idea, and they agreed it would be an equitable way of handling Michigan. “Senator Obama looks forward to building a winning campaign in Michigan in the fall as our Democratic nominee,” Burton said.
But Clinton told reporters while campaigning in Terre Haute, Ind., that Obama’s nomination could be tainted if he achieves it without a second Michigan contest.
“I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee,” Clinton told reporters, referring to Michigan and Florida.
So unless there’s a breakthrough, it looks like the whole mess will be placed in the hands of the national Democratic party.
Net result so far: bad news for the Clinton campaign since the re votes would have been high profile and Clinton could have possibly won them.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.