Posted on 03/09/2008 7:04:37 AM PDT by Libloather
Primary re-does costly
POSTED: March 8, 2008
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., left, get a hug from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell as she in introduces at a campaign stop for a low dollar fundraising reception at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
LANSING (AP) — The biggest stumbling block to doing over the Democratic primaries in Michigan and Florida may be the cost.
Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer estimates it would cost the state party $8 million to $12 million to set up party-run election sites and allow voting by mail or over the Internet.
Florida Democrats could be facing even higher costs.
During a meeting Wednesday night among House Democrats from Florida and Michigan, Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida relayed estimates that another primary would cost the state between $22 million and $24 million, a vote-by-mail contest would cost at least $8 million and the bill for a caucus would be about $4 million, said Hastings spokesman David Goldenberg.
Michigan and Florida both held January primaries but were stripped of their delegates for breaking Democratic National Committee rules by moving their contests to earlier dates. The national committee has suggested that the two states hold another round of presidential contests that would meet party rules and allow their delegates to be seated.
But with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a tight race for the nomination, setting up new elections isn’t so simple. Clinton won both states’ primaries, but all the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in either state, and Obama wasn’t even on the ballot in Michigan.
Negotiations over what kind of do-over contests would be held and how they would be set up have been contentious. Neither side wants to give the other a possible advantage.
I heard it myself while suffering through another episode of Meet the Depressed. He mentioned that the caucus process leaves out senior citizens and shift workers who can't make it to the meeting place. Puff Daschle disagreed with Fast Eddie.
Fast Eddie wants the RATS to come up with the $12 million (more like $40 million) to have another primary in both Michigan and Florida and thought the two RAT candidates have enough loot to pitch in.
RATS do know how to waste money. How many homeless could be fed with tens of MILLIONS of dollars?
at this point, no matter what the dems do in Michigan and Florida some one is going to be upset and will probably stay home in November. The biggest risk they run is the loss of the youth vote which is un-commonly huge this session.
If they change the rules and waste this money in a redo, all else is fair game. Do they get to revote if McCain wins nationally?
All states knew what the rules were going in, and the stakes. The Dhimmicrat Party created this mess; they should live with the consequences.
I hope they do redo and EDWARDS wins. That would really create a mess!
"The poor will always be with you, but you will have the Son of Ma ... er, ah, I mean Hillary and Barack for a short time."
Caucuses are undemocratic, he says, but after everybody has their say in a primary, we can disregard unwanted results by using the override of the superdelegates who are wiser than the seniors and the working stiffs we claim to represent.
OMG..........that would be the funniest thing since the whoopee cushion :-)
Republicans should vote in droves in these re-dos, for Hillary.
Even if Hillary carried these states overwhelmingly, she would not have more elected delegates than Barack going into the election. But keeping her alive keeps her attacking Obama, which is something that is she does, McCain won't have to. So she probably won't get the nomination, but it's good to keep her in the fight. And if she happens to get the nomination, that's going to be the result of one fractured Democratic party.
I think the Democrats used to have a quaint custom known as a “poll tax” - if they just charge admission to the election booth, they could easily raise the money to make this happen. It’s better than accepting reality, which is what they decided back in the fall about not counting the delegates because the two states amd the national committee didn’t think the votes would matter anyway.
Does that estimate include the cost of payouts to the select voters to insure that they hang their chads in the right column? /sarc
they punished Mich and FLa, because they like it the way it is. Much easier to control outcomes in smaller states of NH and Iowa.
Our governor, Fast Eddie (his trooper-driven car sped down the turnpike at around 100 miles per hour) is now Hillary’s “shill of the hour.”
He’s got the insiders in lockstep for Hillary and no doubt she’ll win here, but that won’t change the fact that Obama will lead in elected delegates.
Florida law states that these are closed primaries and the voter must be registered 30 days in advance.
Michigan is an open primary state.
Pay-per-vote? Even the poor could afford to blow a buck - eh? After all, is there anything more important than electing a RAT? But I see a problem. RATS are promised open and FREE elections. And once you give a RAT something FREE, it better be FREE forever! Your idea may tick them off even worse than they are right now!
“Could Republicans (and independents for that matter) who voted in the Republican primaries be eligible to vote in the Democrat re-do primaries?
Republicans should vote in droves in these re-dos, for Hillary. “
Nah, I think they should ALL vote for Edwards. Place lots of ads, “end the bickering, vote for Edwards.” Lots of well placed phone calls “I’ve been a Democrat all my life, and I’m tired of the nastiness, I’m voting for Edwards.” I’d love to see Edwards then fight for SuperTuesday do-overs! It would be great fun! (Dreaming, I know.)
Exactly! But the DIMs are never satisfied if they can screw up even further what they've already messed up grievously. All they're good for is digging their own hole deeper...and deeper...
Well somebody should ask Fast Eddie -a part of the RAT Party establishment—why the DNC etc. allowed caucuses to be set up all over the country. If it is a stupid idea, then it was insituted and supported by stupid people (Eddie included).
Waiting for Hillary’s campaign manager, Terry McAuliffe (former DNC head), to criticize the DNC heads that allowed caucuses to be used as one of the standards in RAT primaries for the past 20 years.
Biting ya back isn’t it McAuliffe?
I agree...we want The Breck Girl brokering the covention.
A redo would be likely to produce the same results as Super Tuesday I and II. No clear winner in delegates. But it is certain that Obama would still lead in states won, pledged delegates and popular vote. The whole Mi - Fla thing is a red herring for Clinton. It keeps the attention off the facts from the previous sentence.
I agree. Caucuses are evil and thwart the will of the general voting populace. It is dominated by activists who either don't work for a living or are union officials (redundant), and they commit all sort of fraud and nasty activities, like we saw in TX with Obama people "losing" all Hillary paperwork, closing doors early, etc.
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