Jeralyn Nails Obama for “Vote-Stealing”

[metta 0]

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Obama Proposes 50/50 Michigan Split: Just Say No

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008

Posted on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 06:53:00 AM EST

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A few weeks ago I wrote a long post on why Barack Obama's suggestion that he and Hillary split the Michigan delegates 50/50 was tanatamount to vote-stealing:

On January 15, 2008, 594,398 Democrats went to their polling places and voted in their state's primary. The official Michigan election results are

here

. 328,309 Democrats in Michigan voted for Hillary Clinton. She

won all but two counties

, Washtenaw and Emmet. 238,168 voted uncommitted. 21,715 voted for Dennis Kucinich. 3,845 voted for Chris Dodd. 2,361 voted for Mike Gravel.

Hillary got 55% of the vote. The uncommitted, who either were truly uncommitted or for Obama, Edwards or Biden, all three of whom voluntarily withdrew their names from the ballot, got 40%. Kucinich, Dodd and Gravel won 5% of the vote.

Barack Obama

now proposes he get 50%

of the state's delegates. That would be vote-stealing. It would be disenfranchising 5% of Hillary's voters. It would be assuming that every uncommitted voter and every voter for Kucinich, Dodd and Gravel now want their vote to go to Obama.

That's called stealing an election.

Obama prevails in this crazy theory at his peril. There will be hundreds of thousands of Democrats across the country who will refuse to vote for him in November, thinking better a Republican than a cheat.

Obama is still pushing this unfair solution. My DD has a copy of the e-mail his campaign sent out today: [More...]

"Senator Obama firmly believes that the Michigan delegation should be seated in Denver. A 50/50 split of the delegates is an eminently fair solution, especially since originally Senator Clinton herself said the Michigan primary wouldn't 'count for anything.' It's now up to the Clinton campaign: they can agree to a fair resolution or they can continue trying to score political points and change the rules. It's time to move forward. Senator Clinton should accept an equitable solution that allows Michigan to participate fully in the convention," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Hillary's campaign provided this response, before receiving the Obama e-mail:

"The issues and voters of Michigan are too important to be dismissed. Close to 600,000 Michiganians cast ballots in January and these votes cannot be ignored. We urge the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee to take all necessary steps to ensure the voices of the people of Michigan are heard and its delegates are seated at the Democratic convention this summer. Already, over 100,000 people have signed our petition calling on the DNC to seat the delegates from Michigan and Florida. We urge Senator Obama to join our efforts to ensure that the votes of the people of Michigan and Florida are counted."

Jonathan Singer at MyDD presents his views of the pros and cons of such a compromise. My view has not changed:

There's a very simple, fair answer to the Michigan dilemna: The DNC does a big "mea culpa" and removes the penalty. Hillary gets the delegates according to her vote total. The uncommitted and other candidates' delegates remain "uncommitted" and vote how they want when they get to the convention in Denver.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

MI? What a joke. Hillary was the only candidate on the ballot in MI. The results are hardly representative. Hillary said so herself when she thought she'd make it without MI.

If you want to debate vote stealing, address Hillary's claim that there's no such thing as a pledged delegate. To hell with the will of those voters who dared not to support her. To hell with those voters who supported the candidate who refuses to wait his damn turn.

That split-tongued #######.

[Sheriff Uling 3]

MI? What a joke. Hillary was the only candidate on the ballot in MI.

True! It's very unfortunate Michigan's votes are not counted, but it would be unfair to simply give the delegates to Sen. Clinton. The blame lies with Michigan's leaders who pushed their date forward knowing the consequences. Now there is no clear cut resolution that is equitable for both campaigns. What a pity!!!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

MI? What a joke. Hillary was the only candidate on the ballot in MI. The results are hardly representative.

No kidding.

[Yoink 7]

Some people like to vote and when they go to the polls they...walla... vote. If a Cockroach was on the ballot it would recieve votes. Hillary won 55% of the vote when her main (and now only) competitor wasn't present. There is nothing representative about that election unlike Florida which had Obama on the ballot.

There is no arguement which holds water that Hillary legitamatly won 55% of the vote. If Obama was on the ballot or if they had a re-vote today, HIllary will not win 55% in either case.

[metta 0]

Some people like to vote and when they go to the polls they...walla... vote. If a Cockroach was on the ballot it would recieve votes. Hillary won 55% of the vote when her main (and now only) competitor wasn't present. There is nothing representative about that election unlike Florida which had Obama on the ballot.

There is no arguement which holds water that Hillary legitamatly won 55% of the vote. If Obama was on the ballot or if they had a re-vote today, HIllary will not win 55% in either case.

Read here

328,309 Democrats in Michigan voted for Hillary Clinton. She won all but two counties, Washtenaw and Emmet. 238,168 voted uncommitted. 21,715 voted for Dennis Kucinich. 3,845 voted for Chris Dodd. 2,361 voted for Mike Gravel.

Hillary got 55% of the vote. The uncommitted, who either were truly uncommitted or for Obama, Edwards or Biden, all three of whom voluntarily withdrew their names from the ballot, got 40%. Kucinich, Dodd and Gravel won 5% of the vote.

Barack Obama now proposes he get 50% of the state's delegates. That would be vote-stealing. It would be disenfranchising 5% of Hillary's voters. It would be assuming that every uncommitted voter and every voter for Kucinich, Dodd and Gravel now want their vote to go to Obama.

That's called stealing an election.

Obama prevails in this crazy theory at his peril. There will be hundreds of thousands of Democrats across the country who will refuse to vote for him in November, thinking better a Republican than a cheat. [More...]

Just yesterday, Rasmussen moved Michigan from the "likely Democratic" column to "toss-up" for November, following a poll showing McCain with a statistically insignificant lead over both Hillary and Obama. Michigan is an important state for Dems to win in November.

By early September, 2007 when Obama took his name off (pdf)the ballot, trailed Hillary in multiple polls.

For the reasons I set forth here and here,

the DNC should remove the penalty from Michigan and Florida) and award and seat the delegates from the Jan. 15 primary now.

As Hillary told NPR yesterday about Obama's withdrawal of his name from the ballot:

"That was his choice," she says in an interview with Steve Inskeep. "There was no rule or requirement that he take his name off the ballot. His supporters ran a very aggressive campaign to try to get people to vote uncommitted."

That's being generous. Several media commentators have suggested he withdrew his name was for strategic reasons, wanting to keep Hillary from claiming a win in a race he knew he would lose. That could also be why, unlike Hillary, he refuses to support a re-vote, maintaining it wouldn't be fair and would be fraught with peril of fraud. Only if the DNC orders it will he agree to the process.

And this is rich:

"Our position consistently has been that the Michigan and Florida delegations should be seated [at the Democratic National Convention] and that we should come up with a system that is fair to all the parties involved," Obama says.

His reasoning seems to be, if we don't seat the delegates until the convention, we don't have to count their votes now and I'll be ahead by convention time. Once I'm the nominee, by all means, let's seat them.

There's a very simple, fair answer to the Michigan dilemna: The DNC does a big "mea culpa" and removes the penalty. Hillary gets the delegates according to her vote total. The uncommitted and other candidates' delegates remain "uncommitted" and vote how they want when they get to the convention in Denver.

For others angered by Obama's audacity in proposing a 50/50 "give me the votes I didn't win" plan, check out Corrente, RiverDaughter, Angalchel. Read their commenters too.

[PlatyPius 5]

Some people like to vote and when they go to the polls they...walla... vote. If a Cockroach was on the ballot it would recieve votes. Hillary won 55% of the vote when her main (and now only) competitor wasn't present. There is nothing representative about that election unlike Florida which had Obama on the ballot.

There is no arguement which holds water that Hillary legitamatly won 55% of the vote. If Obama was on the ballot or if they had a re-vote today, HIllary will not win 55% in either case.

Read here

Oh, blow it out your #######. Anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that that is a completely bogus piece of "information". Hillary was on the ballot. Obama was not. Several of the people who WOULD have voted for Obama likely voted for Hillary due to Obama's absence. Either ignore MI altogether, split the delegates 50/50, or do a revote. Those are the only fair and viable options.

[metta 0]

Some people like to vote and when they go to the polls they...walla... vote. If a Cockroach was on the ballot it would recieve votes. Hillary won 55% of the vote when her main (and now only) competitor wasn't present. There is nothing representative about that election unlike Florida which had Obama on the ballot.

There is no arguement which holds water that Hillary legitamatly won 55% of the vote. If Obama was on the ballot or if they had a re-vote today, HIllary will not win 55% in either case.

Read here

Oh, blow it out your #######. Anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that that is a completely bogus piece of "information". Hillary was on the ballot. Obama was not. Several of the people who WOULD have voted for Obama likely voted for Hillary due to Obama's absence. Either ignore MI altogether, split the delegates 50/50, or do a revote. Those are the only fair and viable options.

Yeah, yeah, Platy ... the brain stem is the part that plays a role in alertness, vital functions like respiration and consciousness and is about 15 % of the brain. The rest (85%)is the cerebrum or the thinking part of the brain. It seems your brain stem is functioning all right in a reptilian sort of way, but the rest seem to be in coma . That explains your #######-eyed ideas and your expletives.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Some people like to vote and when they go to the polls they...walla... vote. If a Cockroach was on the ballot it would recieve votes. Hillary won 55% of the vote when her main (and now only) competitor wasn't present. There is nothing representative about that election unlike Florida which had Obama on the ballot.

There is no arguement which holds water that Hillary legitamatly won 55% of the vote. If Obama was on the ballot or if they had a re-vote today, HIllary will not win 55% in either case.

Read here

Oh, blow it out your #######. Anyone with a functioning brain stem can see that that is a completely bogus piece of "information". Hillary was on the ballot. Obama was not. Several of the people who WOULD have voted for Obama likely voted for Hillary due to Obama's absence. Either ignore MI altogether, split the delegates 50/50, or do a revote. Those are the only fair and viable options.

Yeah, yeah, Platy ... the brain stem is the part that plays a role in alertness, vital functions like respiration and consciousness and is about 15 % of the brain. The rest (85%)is the cerebrum or the thinking part of the brain. It seems your brain stem is functioning all right in a reptilian sort of way, but the rest seem to be in coma . That explains your #######-eyed ideas and your expletives.

Yeah, yeah. You still haven't addressed why the delegates in MI ought to vote as the voters did (despite the other candidate having been absent from the ballot as all - including Hillary - pledged they would) while Hillary is out pledged delegate poaching saying there ain't no such thing as a pledged delegate. She's like Stalin - vote for me or your vote doesn't matter. What an arrogant, dishonest piece of ####### she is.