The NY Times, Time, and others talk about Florida - Updated

The Floridians are taking great exception to being called "a meaningless beauty contest" by the Obama Campaign. Seems the MSM are not going to be allowed to ignore Florida. You better be careful Senator Obama, Florida is listening very carefully.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27florida.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Surge in Early Balloting Shifts Florida Races

The level of interest, if it is matched by turnout at the polls on Tuesday, could make the results in Florida more important for Democrats than they had assumed, given both the absence of candidates here and the fact that no delegates are at stake. The Democratic National Committee penalized Florida for holding its primary too early, saying it would not seat its delegates.

“There is a race going on,” said Karen Thurman, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, who has been urging Floridians to defy the national party and vote. “And there will still be a headline: ‘So-and-so has won Florida.’ ”

Mr. Obama’s campaign argued that the Florida vote is a meaningless beauty contest, given the absence of candidates in the state and the fact that no candidate will win delegates in a contest that both sides have increasingly viewed as a race for delegates, rather than states.

“Although Senator Obama did not remove his name from the Florida primary ballot because Florida law did not allow him to do so, Senator Obama is firm in his commitment to neither participate nor campaign in the Florida primary and its outcome has no bearing on the nomination contest,” Mr. Obama’s campaign said in a memorandum sent to “interested parties.”

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1707293,00.html

The Dems' Florida Boycott Heats Up

But for Democrats, it's hard to find any other silver lining in the fact that their eventual nominee will have no primary face time with voters in such a crucial swing state. "I don't think there is any real chance the Republicans can win the presidency in November without taking Florida," says Steve Geller, a Florida Democrat and the state's Senate minority leader. "But the Democratic Party shouldn't be taking that risk when just eight years ago the whole nation was agonizing over 500 votes in Florida."

http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_8092204?nclick_check=1

Every vote matters, unless you're from Florida

now that it is in their best political interests. A few weeks ago, they really didn't give a shit.

Ops! nothing new about that. Obama ran national ads last week. Therefore they ran in Florida. The networks said they would not
block the ads in Florida. Of course, I am sure that you would have preferred that he not run national ads. But he did.

So Clinton jumps on the opening. Cause she is looking more than a little desperate. I know, I know this is all fine with you.
I know, I know Clinton is the victim here. She always is. Whatever.

Got it.

Got it.

Obama has ads running.
Which - for the record - I think should be ok anyway. They see all the coverage all over their tvs. What dif do ads make? But thats not the point...

I don't recall any of the Dem. candidates running national ads prior to Florida so it gives the appearance of something fishy, other candidates not withstanding.

There is a national race in 10 days. 22 states. Remember.

Running national ads that cover all these states is cheaper than running ads in individual states.
Plus you get a benefit of introducing yourself to the nation. I bet Hillary will be doing that this week.
Ya think?

nt

Poneys, dude!

just to advertise there and violate the pledge he made.

He just couldn't find any other way to advertise in other states without doing Florida too. :eyes: :sarcasm:

He could have said something like, I share the voters anguish but.......

Oh no, he came out with a cold sharp, Fuck you all in Florida, you don't count to me. I understand from some people i know down in Florida, people are hopping mad about this.

He is simply following the rules and trying to keep a level playing field. Too bad that Hillary will not follow suit.

I support Howard Dean's decision because when you break the established rules, you have to pay a price. The other down side is that the Repug-controlled state will probably get their tax admendment passed, it appears to be a give-away for the rich land developers and a bum deal for the average taxpayer. There should be less turnout for Dems who might tend to vote "no" on it.

BTW no one is prohibited travel to Florida for next Tuesday, and I don't want to deny Hillary her freedom to travel there. So hopefully when traveling to Florida, we'll assume it was just coincidental, she came there for a quick break, and she will at least keep the campaign low-key. Which might be hard to do in S. Fla. where her biggest support is.

Don't try and cover him when he's clearly doing what he did in Michigan, everything under the radar but then again he'd know about it being under the radar when it comes to shady business.

but to my knowledge they didn't set up any campaign tent at the end of the parade. They were clearly allowed to be in one of the front cars of the parade, this didn't bother me at all and it was fairly low key. Just one car with a few people. There wasn't any big rally after the parade.

It was one of the biggest MLK parades I've seen here, and to me it was perfectly appropriate because it was Obama with a relatively low profile.

If there was an international womens' day parade, I would have not minded at all if Hillary had been in that, either, as long as it was relatively low key, too.

Uh, the "level playing field" is called everybody's vote counts. You do not punish voters because party leaders squabble.

it's called protocol, and I can't make up my own rules as I play the game. Might as well have Alice in Wonderland on the party ticket.

Win or lose, Obama will get more respect from the establishment Dems because he is willing to follow the rules for Florida even though the rules might be unpopular for the moment. He's likely going to come in a strong 2nd even without much effort, I don't see an Edwards surge here.

I think as long as Hillary keeps her FL presence out of overt campaigning here, she'll still have my respect as a viable candidate.

I use to worship Hillary practically as a goddess when she ran for Senate in NY, I had the bumpersticker and I was proud of it. But IWR kind of blew everything with me. I won't worship any god or goddess of war!

These are elections by people whose votes must be counted.

The DNC cannot decide during a temper tantrum whose votes count and whose do not. Not in this republic.

If the political parties want to go back to smoke filled back rooms to pick their candidates then let them do so, but....

....if they leave it to their rank and file to vote for delegates that will select their nominees then every vote must be counted and every delegate must be seated.

I repeat: no decisions based on petty temper tantrums by national and state party leaders that violate their members rights.

But Not Really fair - clinton
Breaking her promise - is it?
Feel sorry for Florida - but a deal a deal, unless you lied or are desperate

and coat tail riders of the worst kind. They are both Lieberman Democrats. Fuck 'em. Their best defense is to deflect the blame. They alone are responsible and should be thrown out of the party.

Just look at the FISA vote tomorrow. Bill loves drama so he will not announce one way or the other. He's always worried about what the 26% will think about him. It's a goddam phobia. You know the "26% syndrome" where it does not matter how large a majority you represent you fear the tiniest of minorities.

The best thing to happen to Bill Nelson's campaign was Katherine Harris. Quoting Kos, "'And Katherine Harris has won the Republican nomination for the Senate and will run against Bill Nelson' and Nelson is so happy he's serving the cocktail drinks at the victory celebration". If not for her, he would have been gone.

Can't be all bad.

.

they are reactionaries because I guess they feel like it's the only way they can keep their political power in Florida. Maybe that's true, Nelson's district includes Patrick AFB and besides there's a lot of military retirees here. However some of that respect gets severely diminished from me, as a peace-loving civilian, for all their other good qualities. You can't serve two masters. You are either for peace or for war. I don't see any grey areas here.

I have no sympathy for the Democratic Party in Florida. The DNC offered to help foot the bill for a caucus where the delegates could be chosen by the rules and the FDP rejected it. FDP legislators moved lock, stock, and barrel with the GOP to change the date to the 29th. Do I feel bad for Florida Dems (voters not leaders)? Yes, but neither Obama or any other candidate is at fault; it's their state "leaders" that are to blame for their primary being unimportant.

Never underestimate the power of a voter pissed off.

idiotic state leaders over the future of the country.

about how their state was pissed on. If they want to see more of the same, they will vote accordingly, if not, they will vote for change.

The first vote at the convention will decide if those delegates are seated. Clintons already have their machine working on the problem so they can have those delegates.

I live in Michigan and voted Uncommitted, but I am the only person I know who did so. Most people didn't show up because of the lack of delegates. Some switched over and voted on the repug ticket.

Clearly, changing the rules after the vote has taken place won't sit well. Here are MORE people that won't show up for Billary if she is our nominee.

It's a major contest and there is something going on here as far as Hillary is concerned but Barack looks at it as a beauty contest which screams of "I don't care about the people of Florida since the delegates don't count". Just my opinion.