The Debacle over the Michigan and Florida Primaries

As many people know, the Michigan Primary as well as the Florida Primary were punished by the DNC by stripping the states of all democratic delegates for choosing to have their primaries prior to Super Tuesday (because they did not get approval from the DNC to do it). This resulted in an agreement between the democratic candidates not to campaign in either state. Somehow, this resulted in Obama and Edwards removing themselves from the democratic ticket in Michigan.

As a voter in Michigan, my options at the Michigan primary were to vote for: Clinton, Kucinich, Gravel, or Uncommitted. I felt compelled to vote uncommitted after watching a local PBS show based out of Lansing, called Off the Record, where everyone seemed convinced that the delegates would be allowed to sit anyway. While they seemed doubtful that the Michigan and Florida delegates would make a difference, it made me fear that Clinton would unfairly get all these delegates from Michigan which could put her over the top. A very large number of people voted uncommitted in the Michigan election. Not enough to over power the votes for Clinton which she received 55% of the vote.

While I find the Florida primary less problematic, due to that fact all candidates were on the ballot, no campaigning occurred there. No one was really made aware of what all the candidates stand for. I'm sure it's debatable as to whether Clinton was skating the agreement by having a fundraiser in Florida within a day of the election. Who knows whether the result would be different if campaigning did occur in Florida. At least Obama was on the ticket.

In any event, it would be a travesty for the Michigan delegates to be allowed to sit at the convention. Even with such a large uncommitted vote, there is no guarantee as to who those delegates will vote for. Even though it is clear that people in Michigan who voted uncommitted did not want their votes to go to Clinton, but any of those uncommitted delegates could opt to vote for Clinton anyway. Yes, I feel disenfranchised because the Michigan delegates don't get to go to the convention. But I would feel even more disenfranchised if the delegates were allowed to sit even though Obama was not even on the ballot for the election. It does not make for a fair election.

I just believe that no matter what Clinton says to justify her desire to have the votes for Michigan and Florida to count, that it is all just to give her an edge on the delegate count. An unfair edge, because unlike the other front runners in the primary, she failed to take her name off the ballot in Michigan. I feel like she knew this could happen and was hoping it would happen.