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Julian Bond to Howard Dean: Seat MI and FL delegations!
6:49 pm on February 12th, 2008 by Ariel Werner
A prominent civil rights leader has told the Democratic National Committee that refusing to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan would disenfranchise both states’ minority communities. In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed “great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted.” Refusing to seat the states’ delegations could remind voters of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” he said.
Bradley Portnoy, a junior at Brown and Michigan native, says, “As a nominal resident of Michigan who actually voted in the election and supports Obama, I would at this point feel *more* disenfranchised if the delegates were seated.”
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February 13th, 2008 at 9:26 am
The only fair way to resolve the issue is to set up new elections in those 2 states with ALL the candidates on the ballot. To seat those delegates in any other context would be disastrous for the Democratic party since Hillary (in typical sleazy fashion) left her name on the ballot after ALL the democrats agreed to stay clear. Hello? We’re supposed to be the DEMOCRATIC party! Any solution that gives Clinton the victory when she didn’t have to run against anyone would be considered cheating by anyone with half a brain.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Ricky, I agree! Let’s re-do those primaries and give ALL the candidates the chance to campaign the way H-Bomb did.
I am disappointed by Bond’s insinuation that a failure to seat the MI and FL delegations is reminiscent of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” by which I assume he means LBJ’s failure to seat the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Delegation. There is a HUGE difference between punishing entire states (with white majorities) for their primary-season-greed and making the conscious decision to disenfranchise a democratically-chosen minority delegation from a Jim Crow state.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
By not allowing the Florida and Michigan voters to have a voice will do nothing but keep those voters at home during the general election. The DNC screwed up and with out Florida or Michigan the Democrates can not win in the fall. Great job Howard Dean