March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic National Committee said a proposal for a privately financed

[AGirl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080319/pl_bloomberg/ag3nzxzrznni

Democratic Party Says Revote in Michigan Meets Rules Christopher Stern and Lorraine Woellert
Wed Mar 19, 7:13 PM ET



March 19 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic National Committee said a proposal for a privately financed Democratic presidential primary in Michigan would meet party rules even as the plan for a revote faced numerous hurdles.

Holding a new primary in early June -- the latest date feasible -- would require approval from the Michigan Legislature before the end of the week, when state lawmakers begin a two-week recess. In addition, Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are split over the proposal, with Obama resisting a revote and Clinton endorsing the idea.

Michigan is struggling to find a way to hold a second presidential primary because the DNC won't recognize the vote held Jan. 15. The national party organization stripped Michigan of delegates to the Democratic National Convention for moving its vote earlier than rules allowed. Florida, which also was penalized for moving its primary to January, scrapped plans earlier this week for a revote. Two Florida lawmakers are floating a new proposal today.

New York Senator Clinton visited Michigan today to lobby for the two state delegations to be counted.

``We need to either count the votes that have already been cast in Michigan and Florida or have new fair and full elections,'' Clinton told a union audience in Detroit. She also said it would be ``wrong, and it would be un-American,'' to ban the state's delegation from participating in the national convention where the party will select its presidential nominee.

Earlier Votes

Clinton won Michigan's January primary with 55 percent of the vote. Illinois Senator Obama's name wasn't on the ballot. She also won the Florida contest with 50 percent of the vote. Obama's name did appear on that ballot along with other Democratic contenders. Neither Democrat campaigned there or in Michigan.

Noting that the DNC had signed off on a Michigan revote proposal, Clinton called on her rival to give the plan his blessing.

``Senator Obama speaks passionately on the campaign trail about empowering the American people. Today I am urging him to match those words with actions,'' Clinton said.

Obama said today that Clinton was ``completely disingenuous'' in her arguments for seating the Florida and Michigan delegations after she agreed earlier in the campaign that those states' votes should not count. Obama, interviewed on CNN, said Clinton changed her mind only after falling behind in the presidential contest.

Obama's aides released a memo written by a campaign lawyer stating that legal and administrative questions about the Michigan proposal could ``undermine acceptance of the results if the election is held.''

Obama's Objections

Obama's campaign specifically objects to a provision that would ban voters from the second election who participated in the state's Republican primary in January. Michigan holds open primaries, which means that Democrats who voted in the Republican primary would be banned from participating in the June revote. At the same time, Republicans who didn't vote in their party's primary in January would be eligible to vote in the June contest.

``The DNC would subject itself to legal action if it proceeds with approval of the plan with these terms included,'' wrote Robert Bauer, a lawyer with Obama's campaign.

Granholm's Support

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who supports Clinton, has also endorsed the revote plan.

``We are glad the Clinton campaign agrees and respectfully hope the Obama campaign will agree as well,'' Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said in an interview.

That still leaves Michigan's Legislature, where Republicans have a majority in the Senate and Democrats control the House.

Two Florida state senators proposed a new plan today that would seat half of the states' 210 delegates based on the results of the Jan. 29 primary. The proposal forwarded by senators Steven Geller and Jeremy Ring offers several alternatives for seating the other 105 delegates.

Among the alternatives is the possibility that the remaining delegates could be seated with an even 50-50 split between Obama and Clinton supporters. Another proposal would seat delegates based on a proportional share of the national delegate counts excluding Florida and Michigan.

``This plan gives us a light at the end of a very dark tunnel,'' said Geller in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at [e-mail] ; Lorraine Woellert in Detroit at [e-mail] .

[madfloridian]

1. The MI legislature did not pass it ...yet.

I laughed at Geller and Ring's proposal. The TV anchors rolled their eyes.

[Rageneau]

2. If the DNC signs off on this and Obama won't, he is refusing to play by the rules.

Obamaniacs continually make the false assertion that Hillary wants to 'change' the rules she agreed to.

But that's misleading, because HRC had no choice BUT to agree to the rules the DNC made, even though those rules hurt her badly. It was NEVER Hillary's idea not to let Florida or Michigan vote. She supported both states' assertions that they have the right to set their own primary dates, regardless of what DNC party insiders want.

Thus, she has abided by the rules as they were set, even though she thinks those rules are unfair, and even though those rules damaged her chances of winning.

If the DNC now stages a new Michigan primary, that means the rules have been changed by the same party that changed them in the first place. That makes the new rules completely legitimate, and if Obama doesn't want to abide by them, then it is HE, not Hillary, who doesn't want to play by the rules.

[David Dunham]

3. Obama's being very bad in disfavoring a revote. We are the Democratic party

[madfloridian]

4. Legislature says not enough votes. DNC approval contingent on that.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977287726&grpId=3659174697241980&nav=Groupspace

[madfloridian]

5. Besides...Hillary is trying to make Obama look bad when this won't matter..

anyway. It is all bluster. I think Countdown covered it tonight.