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Opinion Editorial Clinton camp needs to be careful about wishes The state legislatures in Michigan and Florida have sold the Democratic parties in those states down the river, perhaps with the aid and abetting of the party leadership. In defiance of the Democratic National Committee's rule, both bodies set dates for the Democratic primaries too early, thereby forfeiting the rights of those states' party delegations to be seated at the national convention in Denver this summer. For a while, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's camp was desperately trying to figure out a way to seat delegates from both states to close on the lead Sen. Barack Obama holds at this point. She had won the Florida primary and wanted those delegates and, truth be known, probably with a sense of entitlement. Monday, Florida's Democratic Party dropped plans for a re-do, or mulligan, leaving Clinton's next best hope convincing the national committee's credentials committee to make a decision about the Florida delegation. Michigan is a different picture. As of Monday, the legislature was trying to figure a way to hold another election. In the prior primary, Obama pulled his name off the ballot, so a mulligan in Michigan presumably places him on the ballot and gives him a chance for more delegates. Memo to the Clinton camp: Be careful what you wish for. Lest some of the partisan Clinton supporters villify the national committee and the Obama camp, their ire is misplaced. They, and the citizens of Michigan and Florida, need to take the legislators to task. In fact, they should not only villify these political hacks, they should vote them out of office. It's the height of legislators' hubris to disenfranchise their citizens. And the Democratic Party, which has such a knack for self-destruction, should consider the consequences, including being nailed as racists, of seating these delegations and thereby give Clinton the nomination. Maybe it's the old Chinese curse: May we live in interesting times. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: March 20, 2008
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