Now that the dust has settled on Mini Tuesday, the dustup begins anew over the Michigan and Florida delegations. In touting her electability, Hillary Clinton mentioned the unmentionable: her victories in Michigan and Florida. This in turn raised hackles among Obama supporters, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a national co-chairman of the Obama for President Campaign.
In a blog post, Jackson wrote:
At her campaign celebration last night in Ohio, Hillary Clinton raised the specter of a nasty, divisive fight at the Democratic National Convention, claiming that she should be the party's nominee based on her big state victories, rather than on the pledged-delegate count. It was a slick and sophisticated attempt to change the rules in the middle of the game and declare herself the winner.
She said, "You all know that if we want a Democratic president, we need a Democratic nominee who can win the battleground states just like Ohio. And that is what we've done." Then, she listed the states she "won," boldly including Florida and Michigan in the litany.
And that was a big no-no:
First, the rules. They were known and agreed to by everyone involved, well before the first votes were cast in Iowa. All the campaigns, including the Clinton campaign, pledged to honor the "early window" that included only four states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Enforcement of the primary timing rule against Florida and Michigan was necessary to prevent the 2008 nominating calendar from falling into chaos.
Will Rogers rightly observed: "I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." Still, the rules are the rules.
The DNC rules also say superdelegates are independent. They are not obligated to follow their state's pledged delegate count. Indeed, Obama supporter Bill Bradley told "The NewsHour:"
There are no rules with superdelegates. They're not pledged. They can all shift at the last minute.
What say you Congressman Jackson?
