FL Dems sniping over changes to Obama's delegate slate. Still threatening not to vote Democratic.

[madfloridian]

and still pushing those lawsuits.

This article is from today. Sounds to me like Jon Ausman is blowing ordinary things that happen out of proportion....and sounds like Steve Geller is still blowing stuff out of his you know what.

Florida Democrats are still sniping

I believe all candidates verify their delegate slates, don't they? Why make a big deal? Ausman just endorsed Clinton this week. He was the one who petitioned the DNC for seating 1/2.

As Sen. Hillary Clinton concedes the presidential nomination today, Florida Democrats are still sniping over possible changes in Sen. Barack Obama's delegate slate.

And a legislative leader's belated endorsement of Obama was accompanied Friday by word that he will continue his lawsuit to make the Democratic National Committee give Florida's 211 convention delegates a full vote. State Senate minority leader Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, said many voters in the Broward County Democratic stronghold had told him they will not vote in November if the DNC persists in a compromise reached last weekend to seat Florida with only a half-vote at the Denver convention.

Way to go, Geller. Endorse him, continue your lawsuit against the party, and keep threatening that Florida will not vote Democratic.

Democratic National Committeeman Jon Ausman of Tallahassee, who filed the appeal that got Florida back into the convention, sent an e-mail to party activists warning that names on Obama's slate of 67 delegates are being reviewed by Tallahassee City Commissioner Allan Katz and Miami attorney Kirk Wagar for a "purge."

Katz, also a DNC member, scoffed at the notion but said national party rules permit Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and ex-Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., to review all delegations and make changes.

"The very powerful lawyers supporting Barack Obama want to take care of their friends at the expense of the little people who campaigned hard for the delegate slots," Ausman said. "There are 67 Obama delegates selected in Florida. It's the intention of Kurt Wagar and Allan Katz to purge 30 to 35 of them and replace them with other people."

Isn't it normal to review delegations? Ausman, why the heck are you talking about the presumptive nominee like he is threatening your state? Good Lord, stop it.

Here is more about Geller's lawsuit and the other one/ones pending.

Florida's 4th or 5th lawsuit against the DNC

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- Three Florida delegates, including the state's Senate Democratic leader have filed a federal lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee claiming the DNC violated their constitutional rights by barring them from the party's national convention.

"This litigation addresses the view of Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee that 1.75 million Democrats can be ignored at will,” said Geller. “We believe we’ve found a winning legal strategy that will once and for all force the DNC to not only obey its own rules but to listen to the voices of millions of Democrats in one of the most influential states in the nation.”

The lawsuits will continue because they are allowed to keep suing and suing. Dissension will continue because Florida Democratic leaders apparently want it to continue, and they don't know how to stop it.

Meanwhile a Florida Democrat who used to be a Republican until he was recruited by Rahm and Karen...is saying he owes the party nothing and doesn't plan to appear to be too close to them least he lose to Republicans. Which he used to be.

Mahoney says he owes nothing to the party.

He actually said this: "I don't owe the party anything,'' said Mahoney, whose election helped the Democrats take control of Congress. ``If anybody owes anybody anything, it's Nancy Pelosi who owes a debt to me."

Wonderful attitude.

[madfloridian]

1. Here's the status of the pending lawsuits.

Geller versus Democratic National Committee

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/GellervDNC.php

DiMaio v. Democratic National Committee

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/DiMaiov.DemocraticNationalCommittee.php

[ZinZen]

29. MF- in my opinion

it's all bluster because they are not winning the game. Let them act like silly two year olds fighting over a toy and/or threatening to take their marbles and go home because they are not getting their way.

What a bunch of wankers.

[bluestateguy]

2. Being seated at the convention is really not that big of a deal

Perhaps it used to be, back in the days when conventions really truly decided the nominations, but that's all done beforehand now.

Really. The convention is just a 4 day party and schmooze-fest. They (the Florida people) need to just calm down. The average Floridian is concerned about the issues that other Americans care about: Iraq, health care, recession, the environment; not whether or not a bunch of party hacks can go to a party in Denver.

This is an astroturf movement. People in barber shops, diners and bowling alleys are not talking about this.

[glowing]

3. You are so right.. they just like to hear themselves talk tough.. we all know

they suck and aren't worth a hill of beans.. its just expensive to run in FL, or more people would.

[Dr.Phool]

4. Another one of Rahm and Karen's party floppers is biting them on the ass.

Christine Jennings will go down in flames in November.

Jan Schnieder, who beat Jennings handily in the 2004 Democratic primary, and then lost the 2006 primary (thanks to some Emmanuel and Thurman underhandedness), filed to run as an independent (NPA) candidate in that race. She will probably siphon off about 40% of Jennings vote.

In 2006, the DCCC sent Barbara Boxer down to Sarasota to raise over $400,000 for Jennings BEFORE the primary. Most of it was used in negative attack ads against Schneider. When Schneider called to ask just what the hell they thought they were doing, they claimed that they didn't know there was a primary in that district. She said "You can't look at your own website?!!". I know Thurman knew it, because I asked her about it when she was pushing Jennings at a Hernando County dinner 6 months earlier.

Schneider called the DCCC and asked them to at least guarantee to stay neutral in the primary this year. They refused, and the rest is history. She says that she plans to make the war the #1 issue in the race.

Other progressives have gotten the old bladed back pat in Florida this year.

Mahoney's seat has been in jeopardy all along, and he stands a good chance of losing in November.

This state party needs a major house cleaning this year. Right now, another county chair thinks that because she presides over the only major county in the state with a net loss in Democratic registrations, it qualifies her to succeed Thurman. Maybe so, if you want another Thurman.

[madfloridian]

5. I remember what they did to Jan.

I did not know she was running as an independent. After what the party here put her through, I don't blame her.

[Cha]

16. YAY Jan Schnieder! Now there's a fighter

who's fighting for the people and the truth. And, she will persevere.

[madfloridian]

6. Advice from a blogger to Obama...ignore Ford's advice.

This is an interesting write-up I found.

http://www.thetoledojournal.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=89033&sID=16

"I write this ''open letter'' to Barack Obama because I am concerned about one recently written by Harold Ford Jr. That letter urged Obama to try harder to connect with white blue-collar voters by engaging them in states like Kentucky and Indiana in the fall election.
And while I would not argue that he should ignore these states, I worry that the agenda he would use to attract conservative voters could weaken the force of change.

To begin with, worry about the blue-collar vote is based on the perception of their strength as a part of the Democratic base, but this year will probably not reflect the 1980s when they went over to the Republican Party en masse or in 1992 when they were a large part of the Ross Perot vote.

This year, blue-collar whites are hurting more than any other time in recent memory and more than any other part of the political demographic with: significant job losses, high prices for everything from milk to gas, the loss of their homes and disaffection with the war policies of the Bush administration. They have been let down by Republicans on both domestic and foreign policy and although about 20 percent in recent polls have said they would vote for McCain if Obama were the choice in the fall, the issue is what would happen to the rest"

[silverojo]

7. Just ONCE, can Florida stop causing so much fucking trouble?

First, half the voters were too stupid to read the ballot correctly, DESPITE being informed repeatedly at the polling place...now, their state was too stubborn to follow the DNC's rules about the primary.

Is Florida NEVER going to get tired of handing elections to Republicans? :mad:

[davidpdx]

8. These people are ridiculous

Ausman got his hearing and the penalty for Florida was reduced. Despite what these idiots think, Florida should be slapped for what they did. Clinton has now dropped out and endorsed the nominee. This stuff has to stop.

[MarjorieG]

9. Article that Hill meant to count FL all along. Is this Hill's pre-convention bid, just in case?

Or just jerks?

[Gore1FL]

10. Kind of silly

He has 2243 according to Democonwatch. Seat FL and MI at 100% take away the MI delegates and that total changes to 2225.5.

That is still more than enough. The lawsuit just wastes time and has no impact.

[madfloridian]

12. The lawsuits make DiMaio and Geller feel important, I think.

All this stuff by Democratic leaders is hurting us and keeping us divided.

[crankychatter]

11. crazy and crazy making (to quote oprah) - nt

.

[dansolo]

13. They are only hurting Florida with this

If they keep this up, Obama will just write off Florida. This means that instead of it being a battle ground, with lots of campaign visits (i.e lots of money being spent in Florida), they may only be a few visits, because he may decide that he wants to focus more of his attention on winnable states. These FL reps are claiming that they want to make Florida more influential, but they are acting against their best interests.

[Cha]

17. Now there's a thought...

Since they're dinos and don't care how they disrupt the Democratic Party maybe they care about the economy of the state of Florida?

[madfloridian]

19. Think the Florida Democratic primary fight is over? Article: only been a pause.

They are hurting all of us with this stuff.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/06/florida-democra.html

[cliffordu]

14. What would happen if the party just turned their back on Fla altogether??

I mean, what would happen if NO ONE campaigned in Fla.

Could Obama win?

What would happen in Congress??


I might not be kidding....

[CarbonDate]

21. McCain leads by ten in Florida. But Obama still wins the election.

Let's face it: Florida is not a battleground state. Increasingly, it's becoming for Republicans what California is for Democrats: a sure-fire electoral vote getter.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

I do think Obama should fight for every state, but let's not act as though we can't win without Florida. We can.

[Cha]

15. I guess geller and fellow dinos didn't learn in

kindergarten that nobody likes a whiny snivler using Orwellian language about "the little people" whom he could give a rat's ass about.

[madfloridian]

18. More about the Obama delegates...10 at the most will be changed.

Jon Ausman was way over-reacting.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/article612118.ece

"If you're one of 67 delegates and alternate delegates for Barack Obama in Florida, beware. You may have a target on your back. The Obama campaign is looking at replacing some delegates elected in grass roots elections in Florida with hand-picked favorites.

Such a purge, Democratic National Committee member Jon Ausman warned in a mass e-mail last week, would be "detrimental to the unifying and healing process our party needs as we make plans to promote Sen. Obama's campaign."

Calm down, say Obama officials in Florida, stressing nothing has been decided yet. Finance chairman Kirk Wagar said at most 10 delegates could lose their status.

Unlike the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign, Obama's campaign did not approve a slate of delegates who ran in grass roots elections, and the national party is giving the campaign authority to sign off or reject whomever it wants."

[pdxmom]

27. Didn't Ausman's proposal that was accepted by the RBC specifically

state that the candidates would have right of approval of their slate? I thought I remembered that this point was specified by Ausman, not by the RBC. If I'm remembering correctly, then this whole bunch can't keep an agreement any longer than the time it takes for the ink to to dry.

[madfloridian]

31. I think so. I know they have the right to do so.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

20. Update: Obama's state finance chair getting pissed off.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/06/florida-democra.html

"Think the Florida Democratic primary fight is over?

Think again. There's apparently only been a pause while state party activists look for a new battlefield. They may have found one Friday.

Tallahassee activist Jon Ausman is sending out e-mail warnings that the Barack Obama campaign is considering replacing some or all of the 67 Florida delegates already selected to represent the campaign at the party's national convention in Denver.

"This purge is dangerous, risky, and frankly, politically unwise," Ausman warned in an e-mail to state party members.

Kirk Wagar, Obama's state finance chairman, in an e-mail response, acknowledged the campaign was evaluating the delegates chosen for the convention. But he added, "the process is just beginning."

"We have been working like dogs to minimize knocking folks out who are truly Obama folks," Wagar said. "People who simply want a free trip to Denver are not my concern."

[Elidor]

25. These guys just love to stir up shit, don't they?

Just what mindmill are they tilting at exactly?

For the sake of all Florida democrats, I hope they can dump Geller and Wasserman-Schultz and Mahoney and get some real leaders in there. This sick little game of footsy that Geller and Wasserman-Schultz are playing with the republicans has got to stop. Who ever fucking heard of politicians afraid to campaign against their opponents? It's pathological.

[madfloridian]

22. Kick just in case you think FL is done.

Cause they are not.

[anonymous171]

23. Can we turn TX blue so that we don't need to kiss FL's ass anymore?

I'm not sure about the electoral map, but TX would sure put a dent in Florida's importance.

[madfloridian]

24. I would love that.

:hi:

[WeDidIt]

26. If 2000 should have taught Democrats a strong lesson

If a Democrat depends upon Florida to win the presidency, we've already lost.

Thank goodness Obama isn't depending on Florida. It'd be nice to win, but it should never be counted upon. They do nto have their shit together electorally.

[anonymous171]

30. And that's why they are throwing a shitfit.

They are becoming less important electorally. If Obama manages to pull this off without winning FL, they are officially a red state and are no longer part of the road to the WH.

[seasat]

28. It's more about their personal power and influence...

instead of what's best for the country. The leadership of our state party is more focused on what they can do to consolidate power within their own turf than building a solid Democratic Party in this state. An old saying sums it up best, A dog pisses on his turf to mark his territory. They made the play to move the primary up earlier to build their own power and now are fighting the same battle to retain it.

Hopefully, influence from Dean and Obama can help clean out this crew and promote some decent leadership here in Florida. We've got some good folks in our party that deserve some promotion over the mismanagement of the current party leadership.

[kwenu]

32. Influential? Florida has been a national political joke since 2000 and it remains so.

Florida's incompetent political leaders need to be gotten rid of but if the electorate approves of this garbage they are just as much to blame for the mess.