early and often

Facing the Facts on Florida and Michigan

Clinton and Obama

Photo Illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images

It’s been one thing after another in the Democratic primaries, from hand-wringing over superdelegates to confusion over the Texas “primacaucus” process. Another headache is now moving to the forefront: With the race so tight, what to do about Florida and Michigan, whose delegates the DNC refused to seat after the states were warned not to schedule their primaries so early? Yesterday, DNC chair Howard Dean laid out two ideas: The states can submit a plan for a new selection process or they can wait until the summer and ask the party’s Convention Credentials Committee to resolve the dispute. And so the wrangling begins in earnest.

• Roger Simon lays out five possibilities for Florida and Michigan: forget about them, seat their delegates as is, split the delegates evenly between both candidates, hold a revote, or just wait for a savior to ride in and broker a compromise. [Politico]

• Arian Campo-Flores tries to sort out the confusion over Florida governor Charlie Crist’s pseudo-endorsement of a new primary. [Stumper/Newsweek]

• Carol Platt Liebau notes with some pleasure that the Democrats are left with either changing the rules in the middle of the game or else admitting that not every vote counts. [Town Hall]

• Ben Smith says it’s a risk for both candidates to take a stance against a revote. Should it actually happen against their wishes, it’s likely the voters will remember their opposition. [Politico]

• Mark Ambinder writes that Clinton’s only option now is a revote, since he doesn’t believe a credentials committee would rule in her favor. [Atlantic]

• Joan Walsh seems to favor a revote, pondering whether the resistance to one basically revolves around the monetary cost. [Salon]

• A Chronicle editorial supports a revote in the form of a caucus, an Obama-friendly, but low-cost, alternative to a primary. [San Francisco Chronicle]

• Chuck Todd and friends think that Dean is shirking his leadership role and that the Democrats may need a heavy hitter like Al Gore to broker a solution. [First Read/MSNBC]

• Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., an Obama supporter, is opposed to reneging on the DNC’s penalty against Florida and Michigan and also hopes the states don’t hold it against Obama. [Huffington Post] —Dan Amira

For a complete guide to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain — from First Love to Most Embarrassing Gaffe — read the 2008 Electopedia.

Facing the Facts on Florida and Michigan