Talk Left Rebuts TPM: Obama and Edwards Are On The FL Ballot, Too

[wyldwolf]

After railing against Hillary Clinton for her UNENFORCEABLE call to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations (Josh Marshall calls it an attempt to "muscle" the Party, what muscle is not at all clear) and lambasting Clinton for not taking her name off the ballot in Michigan and Florida, Marshall asks:

Perhaps there's some detail of this question that I'm not aware of. And if there is I'll revise my opinion accordingly. But based on what I know now this is pretty clear-cut.

What Josh knows is pretty clearly wrong. First thing Josh seems NOT to know is that taking their name off the ballots was NOT required of the candidates by the Democratic Party. If it was, then Clinton AND Obama AND Edwards are violating the rules as they ALL have their names on the ballot. But of course the rules can not require this for to take their names off the Florida ballot they have to drop out of the race entirely under Florida law. So much for that "rule." More . . .

Second thing Josh does not know is that the decision to remove their names from the ballot in Michigan was initiated by Obama, the Party had nothing to do with it, and Obama's request was adhered to by Edwards and some of the other candidates but NOT Dodd, Kucinich and Gravel (the dirty cheaters). See, HALF of the candidates did not remove their names from the ballot. There was NO RULE requiring it.

What TPM does not realize is that the removal was an attempted power play by Obama because he knew he could not run well in Michigan and thought that the pressure of Iowa (protect the whole first thing) would allow him to shut down the possibility of a Michigan beauty contest being deemed meaningful. And indeed Obama's hardball ploy worked. Michigan was not covered.

However, when Obama saw that Hillary was not going to play his game, he did not remove his name from the Florida ballot, nor could he under Florida law without dropping out of the race entirely. And neither did Edwards. Hence they are all dirty scoundrels breaking the rules in Florida.

BTW, if TPM, as it seems to want to a lot these days, wanted to criticize the Clinton campaign on this, he missed the real line of attack - Clinton made her statement today in order to roll up a big win in Florida on January 29 and try to get the Media to give it attention. BECAUSE Obama and Edwards kept their names on the ballot, Florida is much more susceptible to being treated as a real contest than was Michigan.

But that is the fault of Obama and Edwards, they are the ones who decided to join Clinton in "violating" the rules. Or more properly, the fault of Florida law, otherwise known as "the rules."

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/1/25/183713/960

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

1. I'll be keeping an eye on this

I like TPM a lot and I read what Marshall wrote on this topic. He flatly declared that Clinton's was the only name on the MI ballot. I'll be looking forward to what he has to say about the MI and FL ballots, and their delegates, in light of these assertions.