Florida Democratic Primary 2008

Florida held their primary elections yesterday, and the Florida Party Chair proclaimed victory for the Florida Democratic Voters:

It's a great night to be a Florida Democrat. For months, the skeptics balked: "No delegates? No candidates?" Today, Florida Democrats responded: "No problem." More than 1.7 million of us showed up to the polls and made our voices heard. That's more than the number of Democrats who voted in any Democratic primary for anything in Florida history. That's more than the number of people who voted in the "early state" contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina combined.

"No Problem?" Hmm, really Madame Chairperson, I personally think that it's a problem that OUR VOTES DON'T COUNT towards selecting the Democratic Party's nominee. The logic behind the "Florida Early Primary" assumes a "presumptive" nominee and not a protracted delegate count battle. It assumes that an early Florida Primary Election would influence the Super Tuesday States, and help decide who this nominee is. So if anyone votes for the Florida winner because Florida voted for them, and this influences what happens in the rest of the country next week, then the "Early Primary" supporters were right. But in the case of a delegate count battle that continues all the way to the convention, our votes don't count. Many Florida Democrats believe that the delegates will get seated. Hillary Clinton wants to seat them. But the National Party has said they won't. And if it comes down to the convention, where the seating of the delegates would actually impact who the nominee is, and if we know beforehand who these delegates will support, then the half that would win if they were seated (i.e, Clinton) will be for it, and the half that would lose if they were seated (i.e., Obama), will be against it. It will be a stalemate, and I think will be left to the current DNC ruling, which is that the delegates do NOT get seated. Of course Clinton would like to seat the delegates, but it's changing the rules mid-stream. What if during the Super Bowl next week they decided in the fourth quarter that retroactively touchdowns were now worth 9 points and field goals didn't count? Nobody would ever agree who really won the Super Bowl. Does Florida really want to be responsible for another election where the winner isn't the real winner in the hearts and minds of half the voters? I've never felt as disenfranchised as a voter. Some people blame the National Party, and Howard Dean specifically. I blame the State Party and elected State Legislators. When the Florida delegation presented it's case to the DNC, the DNC showed that in 5 or 6 votes over this in the Florida Legislature, that not one Democrat voted against it (or maybe one or two voted against it once). It was the Florida Legislature that created this mess, and the Florida Democrats were complicit in it. The Florida State Party (and elected officials like Sen Bill Nelson) exacerbated the problem by not working towards a better solution. I don't know what the National Party could of done differently. If Michigan and Florida moved up their elections this year, who will move up their elections next year, and the year after that? And then we'll be having our primaries 12, 14, 16, 24 months before the general election? That just can't happen. The election cycle is already too long. So I think Dean made the right call. And every elected Florida Democrat made a self-serving decision that may have made them popular to their electorate, but was the wrong decision for the Democratic Party. By that way, I live in Nassau County Florida, a very Conservative County just south of Georgia, on the Atlantic. I am somewhat involved in local party politics, but I have not supported any candidate until I actually cast my vote (which I think was purely ceremonial). The above is my personal opinion and not representative of the local Democratic party.