Credentials Committee, Florida, And Michigan

This Democratic primary has been, at the very least, very educational.  We got a chance to learn about the previously rarely talked about Super Delegates, and about the, “Texas Two Step.”  Now, with Clinton’s chances hinging increasingly upon her luck with the Credentials Committee to seat Michigan and Florida delegates in her favor, we get to learn about that little bit of political arcana.

The Politico does some research on the Credentials Committee, and the outlook does not look exactly good for Mrs. Clinton.

If the fight over whether to count the results in Florida and Michigan makes it to the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton will not have enough pledged votes on the 169-member Credentials Committee to deliver a majority decision in her favor, according to an analysis conducted for Politico. Her only hope of getting the key committee to vote out a “majority report” supporting her position rests on her ability to persuade an as-yet-undetermined number of the 25 members appointed to the committee by party Chairman Howard Dean to cast votes for her position.

The DNC’s Credentials Committee consists of 144 pledged members (Florida and Michigan are not included) plus the 25 party leaders and elected officials appointed by Dean. The 25 Dean appointees include a mix of Dean loyalists, Obama supporters and at least several individuals who have endorsed Clinton.

“If the formal process of seating a delegation cannot be resolved,” a Clinton senior adviser said, “those 25 will be important.”

The analysis was conducted by Matt Seyfang, an attorney and a former delegate counter for past Democratic presidential candidates including Bill Clinton in 1992 to Bill Bradley in 2000. According to his projections and a calculation of the number of committee seats that each candidate is entitled to based on their proportion to the statewide vote or the relevant caucus rules, Obama holds roughly 65 seats and Clinton 56. There are slightly more than 23 seats still to be decided in the remaining contests.

Seyfang’s findings reveal that Clinton faces an uphill battle if, as she signaled on Saturday, her campaign decides to take her fight to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations to the Credentials Committee.

Of course this should all be a moot point.

I know this is the position I’m supposed to take, being the big blatant Obama partisan that I am, but my opinion actually has little to do with that, and everything to do with basic, simple, integrity.

People screwed up, and now it is time for them to reap what they sow.  Michigan and Florida tried to bump their primaries up when they were told not to, the DNC stripped them of all their delegates as opposed to a milder, yet effective punishment (the Republican party’s decision to strip Florida of half of its delegates now seems infinitely wise).  And the candidates, BOTH candidates currently in this race right now, agreed with nary a whisper of discontent.

All chances to have fixed this when it could have been properly fixed were passed on, and everyone needs to pretty much cope with that.

(Edit: the link for the excerpt directed to the wrong article.  That problem has been fixed.  I apologize for the inconvenience.  -K