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WASHINGTON: Democratic party bosses on May 31 will hear proposals to count delegates from disputed Florida and Michigan primaries which could help settle the party's hard-fought nomination tangle, a party official said Saturday.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sent a memo to members Friday saying it will hear challenges from Florida and Michigan Democrats to get their states' delegates seated at the party's national convention in August.
"There is a memo calling for a meeting on May 31st," a superdelegate who writes the anonymous blog mrsuper.org told AFP.
The DNC last year stripped the two states of their delegates for holding nominating contests too early, but Democrats have filed challenges to have them restored so that the states' residents can help decide whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama wins the right to represent the party in November's vote.
According to media reports, the committee will hear proposals from Michigan Democrat Joel Ferguson and Florida party official Jon Ausman, both of which recommend seating half the states' pledged delegates -- but all of their superdelegates, the party grandees who are free to vote their own minds.
The DNC meeting comes three days before the final contests in Montana and South Dakota and well after key May 6 contests in Indiana and North Carolina.
"I totally reject this idea from (DNC chairman) Howard Dean and others that we'll settle Michigan after someone has enough delegates to have a winner," Ferguson, a Clinton supporter, told The Detroit News.
Clinton won both Florida and Michigan, but Obama was not on Michigan's ballot.
If it had counted, Florida's vote would have given 105 pledged delegates to Clinton and 67 to Obama, out of a total 185. Florida has 25 superdelegates.
The primary in Michigan would have given 73 delegates to Clinton, with 55 uncommitted out of a total 128 pledged delegates. It also has 28 superdelegates.
Awarding half-delegates would mean Clinton receives 89 delegates and Obama 33.5, with 27.5 uncommitted.
The half-delegate plan earned a swift rebuke from the anonymous
superdelegate.
"It would be very difficult, at this time, for me to support awarding even half delegates to Florida and Michigan," he said.
"It is disingenuous for the leadership of these states to say they are being disenfranchised," he said, arguing that leaders in Florida and Michigan "willingly put their states in these positions" despite the DNC's threat of penalty.
Clinton has pushed hard to have the two primaries counted. Obama's camp has suggested they be split 50-50.
This would narrow Obama's lead, but it would remain unlikely Clinton catches him in the delegate count.
Neither is likely to win the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination, and superdelegates are expected to play a crucial role in choosing the candidate. - AFP/ac
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