Florida & Michigan: What Should Be Done?

As is well known, the Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates for moving their primaries up before February 5.  Now, with the race essentially tied, Democrats are looking to Florida and Michigan to help decide this nomination.  I think we can all agree that Florida and Michigan need to be seated at the convention, the only question is how. Several proposals have been put on the table and here are my take on each of them:

1) Let the Florida and Michigan Delegations be Seated According to their January Results.

I myself would be fine with this solution.  It wouldn't waste any of Michigan or Florida's taxpayers' money nor would it force the DNC or the candidates themselves to put out valuable money.  

Florida was a fair playing field.  Neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned there and both abided by the rules. Their names, however, remained on the ballot.  Over a million Democrats showed up to the polls and voted. Some argue that Obama wasn't known to the Florida voters, and therefore had no shot at winning.  Well, with that logic, neither did Sen. Clinton.  But the truth is that both were well known by the end of January. Obama had received an overdose of media attention, all positive for that matter, following his big wins in Iowa and South Carolina.  By January 29, I'm sure that 99% of Democrats in this country knew who Sen. Barack Obama was.  With all that being known, the voters of Florida still showed up in enormous numbers to have their voices heard, and their voices should be respected. 

Michigan is a different story.  Obama did not have his name on the ballot there. He had taken his name off even though this act was not required by the DNC pledge and although Gov. Granholm had asked all the candidates to remain on the ballot.  But come election day, Obama and Edwards urged their supporters to show up to the polls and vote "uncommitted".  "Uncommitted" received 40% of the vote, a speculative combination of the votes that Obama and Edwards would have received.  Here's what I would be willing to do: have all of those "uncommitted" delegates vote for Sen. Obama.  This would make the state total 40% Obama, 55% Clinton.  This would be a fair way to seat Michigan delegates.  The only problem I see with giving 100% of the "uncommitted" vote to Obama would be that some voters, who voted for Edwards, would have voted for Clinton had Edwards not been in the race.  But with that being said, I still believe that would be a fair way to sort through the mess with Florida and Michigan.  Keep in mind that I was against this penalization of Florida and Michigan back in the fall, before this mess was even started.  It's not as if I'm flip-flopping to help one candidate over another.  I always had thought that the original votes should have counted, even before they happened.

2) Split the Delegations 50-50

Some have suggested that the Florida and Michigan delegations be split: half for Obama, half for Clinton.  I say that if you're going to go that route, you might as well not even count Florida or Michigan.  The point of a primary election is to let the people of a particular state vote for who they want to be President.  If you're going to not even worry about what the people decided, why even bother seating the delegates?  It's just as disenfranchising to voters to discount their wishes as it is to not even ask them what their wishes are.

3) Caucuses to Determine the Delegates

Again, this is the wrong way to go.  Caucuses are, in many ways, undemocratic.  Those who can't get out of their houses don't get their voices heard.  Those who would normally vote absentee don't get their voices heard.  Those who work shifts that occur during the caucus time frame, don't get their voices heard.  Those who are uncomfortable with sharing their political opinions in front of their friends, neighbors, bosses, etc., don't get their voices heard.  And to top it all off, Florida and Michigan are not used to caucuses.  They don't have systems, like Iowa, that have been perfected over years. Many things could go wrong and many traditional voters, who are unaccustomed to caucusing, might just not show up. This election is too important for all those things; caucuses are the wrong option.

4) Hold New Primaries

I'm open to this.  Again, I don't think that the taxpayers of Florida and Michigan should have to pay for another election, nor do I think that the DNC or the candidates should have to either.  But at the same time, this is the next best solution, next to having the delegations seated as they were originally determined.  Primaries wouldn't disenfranchise voters and would give all voters a chance to participate.  

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All in all, I don't think there is one perfect solution, but there are those which are better than others.  We must make sure that the people of Florida and Michigan have their voices heard and respected.  For that reason alone, not to mention that Florida and Michigan are crucial swing states come November, a solution to this mess must be figured out and Florida and Michigan must have their delegations seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.