After a three-hour lunch meeting in which Rules and Bylaws Committee members privately argued over solutions by which delegates from Michigan and Florida will be seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer, committee members surprised observers by returning two quick verdicts.

The committee agreed unanimously with a proposal offered early this morning from Florida DNC member Jon Ausman, under which the Sunshine State will send a full compliment of 185 delegates to Denver, all of whom will have one half of one vote. An initial motion to seat every Florida delegate with a full vote failed, though by a surprisingly narrow 12-15 margin.

Michigan, which initially moved its primary to January 15 in violation of DNC rules, caused significantly more consternation during deliberations today. But after extended negotiations, a motion from Virginia committee member Mame Reiley, a Clinton backer, allocated 69 delegates to Hillary Clinton and 59 delegates to Barack Obama, each delegate with half a vote, passed by a 19-8 margin.

Dissenting members, largely backing Clinton, criticized the motion for what they said was a violation of a party rule known as fair reflection, arguing that by removing four delegates from the 73 Clinton would have gained out of Michigan, the process was unfair.

Overall, Clinton earned nineteen net delegates from Florida and five from Michigan, before super delegates from both states will be included. With the additional delegates allowed seats in Denver, the magic number Clinton and Obama strive for will be 2,118, up from the 2,026 delegates needed before today.

Not everyone left the hall happy, though. As co-chairs James Roosevelt and Alexis Herman attempted to gavel the meetings to a close, protests erupted in the back of the hall. "I'm not voting for Barack Obama!" shouted one woman, while others chanted, "Madam President!"

But ten hours after the committee convened, the specter of a nomination by just 48 states has been excised. The Rules and Bylaws Committee will next meet to offer their final report to the convention credentials committee in late June, a meeting Roosevelt promised to arrange by telephone.

Democratic Party officials restored renegade state Michigan to its presidential convention Saturday with halved voting rights, but Hillary Clinton's camp said it may challenge the ruling.
The Democratic National committee's rules and bylaws committee voted 19 to 8 to restore the northern state, after earlier voting to reinstate Florida, which also broke party rules by bringing its primary forward to January.

Clinton, who won the primary, in which Obama's name was not on the ballot, will get 69 delegates, who will each only have half a vote in nominating the party's presidential nominee.

Obama will get 59 delegates, who will also have half a vote under the plan.


But Clinton's senior advisor Harold Ickes, who had argued that Obama should get no votes, said the former first lady's supporters had been hijacked.

"Mrs Clinton has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee," Ickes said.

The committee is due to meet in July as preparations accelerate for the party convention.

The rules and bylaws panel earlier voted 27-0 for the compromise Florida plan, which will give primary winner Clinton a net gain of 19 delegates to the convention but leave her well behind Barack Obama in the total delegate count.


The plan will see all the state's delegates , and superdelegates (top party officials) restored, but they will each have only half a vote at the convention in Denver in August to crown the party's presidential challenger.

At a fiercely contested meeting at a Washington hotel, the committee earlier rejected Clinton's bid to have the Florida delegation seated in full.

Clinton's angry supporters chanted "Denver, Denver" demanding the row be taken to the party convention in August and "Madame President" "Madame President."

Clinton Campaign May Challenge MI Ruling




So, the est Delegate Count is 2050 for Obama, 1875 for Clinton. 2118 needed at the moment, unless they change the rules again at the meeting in July.

Harold Ickes is an idiot. How is that fair to Obama to not receive any of the delegates considering he pulled his name off from the ballot knowing that MI didnt count back then

How does Ickes sleep at night knowing some tool that thinks an Estrada manscaping pic is "hilarious"? The son of FDR's Sec. of Interior has got to be a grade A moron.

Obama made a political calculation and even when it is wrong, gets rewarded. Teflon Jr.

How does Ickes sleep at night knowing some tool that thinks an Estrada manscaping pic is "hilarious"? The son of FDR's Sec. of Interior has got to be a grade A moron.

Obama made a political calculation and even when it is wrong, gets rewarded. Teflon Jr.

Harold Ickes is a hyprocrite because he was on the committee to strip MI and Florida of the votes but not only does he not just want MI & FL to count but to have none of them awarded to Obama.

Obama made a political calculation and even when it is wrong, gets rewarded. Teflon Jr.

:roll:

man, fuckin feminists. "madame president"

Would you still have them refer to a female president as "Mister President"?

Madam President is the standard designation, and pre-dates feminism...

What do you guys think Hillary will do next?

Bow out gracefully? Launch an independent candidacy? Take it to the convention and try as much as possible along the way to discredit Obama's legitimacy?

chanting it when they have already lost???

What do you guys think Hillary will do next?

Bow out gracefully? Launch an independent candidacy? Take it to the convention and try as much as possible along the way to discredit Obama's legitimacy?

:roll:

man, fuckin feminists. "madame president"

What do you guys think Hillary will do next?

Bow out gracefully? Launch an independent candidacy? Take it to the convention and try as much as possible along the way to discredit Obama's legitimacy?

And I really like how you have shown less maturity by making a jab at me instead of focusing at the issue at hand. Harold Ickes is a hyprocrite because he was on the committee to strip MI and Florida of the votes but not only does he not just want MI & FL to count but to have none of them awarded to Obama.

But in 1964 he was drawn by some invisible thread into the civil rights movement, and went to work for the cause in Mississippi and Louisiana. In 1965, in Tallulah, La., three or four white men attacked a car carrying Ickes and two black men. Ickes told the blacks to run and faced the gang by himself. The men fired a shotgun over his head; Ickes responded as he had been taught. "We were trained to curl up in the fetal position," he says, "Fighting back was a good way to get yourself killed. So I fell to the ground and curled up in a ball. And they really kicked me around." When the local sheriff finally arrived he arrested Ickes for disturbing the peace and let the others go free. Ickes lost a kidney from the beating.