Top Democrat wants party contest decided by July 1

[OrangeEmpire]

Top Democrat wants party contest decided by July 1 | Politics | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic Party chairman said on Friday he hopes the increasingly contentious rivalry between presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton can be decided by July 1 to avoid a fight at the party's convention.
Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and a presidential candidate in 2004, urged the two candidates to focus on the November general election battle against Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican presidential nominee.
"I think it would be nice to have this all done by July 1," Dean said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program. "If we can do it sooner than that, that's all the better.
"There has been some personal criticism," he said. "We don't want this to degenerate into a big fight at the convention."
Dean told CNN he believes Democratic delegates from Michigan and Florida will eventually be seated at the party's August nominating convention in Denver.
The Democratic primary elections in Michigan and Florida were invalidated after both states disobeyed party rules and held their balloting earlier in the year to hold greater sway over the selection of candidates.
Efforts to rerun the two primaries have failed.
"I think the delegates are eventually going to be seated in Florida and Michigan as soon as we get an agreement between the candidates on how to do that," Dean said.
Obama, an Illinois senator, has captured more state primaries, more votes and thus more of the pledged convention delegates who will help decide which Democrat faces McCain in November's presidential election.
But Clinton, a New York senator, has won contests in several large states and hopes to persuade the party's superdelegates that she will be the stronger general election candidate.
Superdelegates -- party officials not pledged to a particular candidate -- have emerged as likely kingmakers in the fight between Clinton and Obama.
Dean said he wants superdelegates to speak publicly about whom they support so that the loser would feel fairly treated.
"The candidates have got to understand that they have an obligation to our country to unify," Dean said in another interview on CBS' "Early Show." "Somebody is going to lose this race with 49.8 percent of the vote and that person has got to pull their supporters in behind the nominee."

Thoughts?

 

[KB5252]

Clinton is too stuborn to admit defeat without doing damage to her party, of which she cares very little IMO. I think she goes forward until democratic leaders tell her in no uncertain terms to bow out.

 

[MG1968]

the fiascoes in Florida and Michigan are Dean's fault to begin with. The Democrats didn't have to hold their primaries on the same day the GOP did and Dean didn't have to punish MI and FL.

It's nice to see the little Barney Rubble wannabe twisting in the wind.

 

[Volnissniss]

I just do not see that happening. Maybe I'm wrong, but they both seem pretty darn determined. I don't think either of them is going to give it up unless they are physically forced away from the microphone!

 

[615 Vol]

I see Obama having enough of a lead after the remaining contest to just let Hillary have Michigan and Florida to prevent her from dragging the election out.

 

[volinbham]

This is sort of unrelated but This Week with George Steph.. had Paul Krugman (liberal leaning economic opinion writer for the NYTs) and Robert Reich (former labor secretary under Clinton). The first topic was the mortgage bailout proposal offered by Hillary. Both supported it and clearly either blame lenders for misleading borrowers or view it as akin to a natural disaster. In short, it's not the borrowers' fault. They criticized McCain's approach as the "Let them eat cake" perspective.

The next topic was the topic of this thread with discussion of Michigan and Florida in particular. Both had no sympathy for either state and feel they should seat no delegates. The reason? Both states knew the rules and violated them so too bad for them.

I just found it ironic that they take the "Let them eat cake" view of Michigan and Florida voters but criticize that same perspective when it comes to borrowers.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

the fiascoes in Florida and Michigan are Dean's fault to begin with. The Democrats didn't have to hold their primaries on the same day the GOP did and Dean didn't have to punish MI and FL.

It's nice to see the little Barney Rubble wannabe twisting in the wind.

Didn't it make sense to have them the same day from a cost stand point?

 

[MG1968]

that's why they held them on the same day, because of costs. granted, no one in the dem leadership could have foreseen the rise of Obama, but the fact that they're willing to disenfranchise the voters in two states should speak volumes about how the dems actually view democracy.