Open Letter to Howard Dean, Hillary, and Barack

Originally Posted at Faithfully Liberal
By Pastor Bob Cornwall

I have a solution to the Michigan and Florida delegate crisis, a crisis that began when Florida and Michigan decided to get ahead of the nominating schedule. If only they knew what was going to happen, they would have chosen to have their elections the first week of April! But that’s not what they did. They tried to compete with the four elections the party had decided should go first. The decision has been a disaster.

All of the Democratic candidates agreed to the idea, including Hillary Clinton. For some reason, however, Hillary didn’t pull her name off the Michigan ballot like the others did (Dennis Kucinich was also on the ballot). In the end, she got about 56% of the vote running against Kucinich and “uncommitted.” Then in Florida, where the candidates names didn’t get removed, but no one actively campaigned (a national ad buy that got shown on cable stations by Obama doesn’t count as campaigning), Hillary took 50%, Obama 33%, and Edwards 13%.

My solution to the crisis is so simple and cost effective that it’s no wonder no one’s thought of it. Nonetheless, I think this idea will work! So, here’s my idea.
I start with the premise that we don’t know how the elections would have turned out had the candidates campaigned or voters understood their votes would count toward delegates. In essence these two primaries were essentially the same as Washington State’s primary – a beauty contest (Washington chose their delegates through a caucus). The second premise is that, after all is said and done with, there are now only two candidates left in the contest.

So, beginning in Florida: Hillary got 50% of the vote, while 50% of the voters voted for other candidates, and my solution here would be – give both Obama and Hillary 50% of the delegates available.
In Michigan, my formula is a bit more complicated, but I think in the end the solution is fair to all. Hillary took 56% of the vote with no major candidates on the ballot. I say, give her a 6% penalty for not joining her colleagues and pulling her name off the ballot. That gives her 50%. With no other candidates currently in the race (Mike Gravel doesn’t count either), give 50% to Obama.

If this simple solution is followed, both candidates remain where they are in terms of percentage of delegates, both states get their delegates seated, and no more money gets spent! Sounds like a great idea to me!

Comments

roy said…
It works Bob... but I can't imagine Hillary agreeing to it.
Mike L. said…
The truth is that it will go to the convention no matter what we do. Hillary won't concede. She may still be running that "3am ad" after Obama is in office and already answering the phone.

The best solution is to simply wait until all other primaries are over and then when Obama is has clearly won, it won't matter what they do. Obama could let the delegates go to Clinton in Fl and MI as she won them in the faux elections (giving Obama the "uncommitted" of course).

In otherwords, don't have any type of arrangement until it is somehow proven that any "do-over" could do any good for either.

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