When all else fails extortion seems to be the coin of the realm for big money Clinton supporters. Time and time again the biggest headache for the Democrats has been the Florida Democratic leadership and its unwillingness to stick to agreements and play by the rules. This morning the NY Times is reporting:

… influential fund-raisers for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have stepped up their behind-the-scenes pressure on national party leaders to resolve the matter, with some even threatening to withhold their donations to the Democratic National Committee unless it seats the delegates from the two states or holds new primaries there.

Apparently the Florida Demcoratic leadership and their money masters want to continue the charade of representing the voters of Florida. Please! I was born in the day; it just wasn’t yesterday. The full story of how the Florida delegates were stripped must be told to a much wider audience. It is time to stop the meme that Florida Democrats were the victims of those mean Republicans. They were not. While Florida Republicans were inside sticking up the bank, Florida Democrats were nervously chain-smoking out in the get away car hoping not to get caught. But Clinton’s Big Money supporters want their money back if their vote doesn’t count? Maybe they should talk to Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman, or maybe they already have? She seems to be part of the big money corporatist problem in Florida.

Jon Ausman, a Florida representative to the Democratic National Committee released an email last August 2007, here’s the money quote:

1.Florida Democratic Legislators sponsored the bill to move the primary to January 29th;
2.Florida House Democratic Legislators voted in committee three times for the bill to move the primary to January 29;
3.All but one Florida House Democratic Legislator vote on the floor to move the primary to January 29; and,
4.Florida House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber stated, after receiving a call from DNC Chair asking for help in opposing setting the primary date before February 5, “I don´t
represent Howard Dean.”
5.Florida House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber stated, after offering an amendment to move the primary to February 5th, that the only reason he offer it was “to show that there was an attempt to state within the Democratic Party rules.” The amendment
failed on a voice vote with no debate being offered.
6.Florida Senate Democratic Legislators voted in committee to move the primary to January;
7.Florida Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller stated on the Senate floor that he was offering an amendment to move the primary to February 5 only because he was threatened by DNC Chair Howard Dean. Sen. Geller than mocked his own amendment which failed on a voice vote without any debate.

By this account it doesn’t appear that Florida Democrats were victimized by anyone.  Florida Democrats are now in the bank threatening a stickup of their own.

I'm tired and bored. Beating up the Clinton campaign isn't all that much fun. Its liking running up the score on a Little League team. But we still have the Republican standard bearer John McCain. Good times!

Mike Lux at Open Left posted an email from a friend and former Republican media consultant. The video is an excellent framing (for Democrats) of McCain. But the email is interesting and worth a read. Here's a sample:

I admired and supported the John McCain of 2000, less so the John McCain of 2004.  And, now I barely know the man, who he is or what he really stands for, and against.

Go to Mike's post or straight to NoJohn.com and have a little at the expense of our really adversaries. Cheers!

If the embed doesn't work you can find the video here.

According to Ben Smith at Politico Geraldine Ferraro made this remark in 1988:

Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

 
Maybe Ms. Ferraro should gracefully exit stage left and refrain from commenting any further on this nomination process. She's hurting her team.

Chris Dodd proposes this solution for getting delegates from MI and FL seated. I respectfully disagree.

Chris Bowers proposed this possible solution for seating MI and FL at the convention:

I think seating Florida's delegation as is (105 Clinton, 67 Obama, 13 Edwards) and holding a new Michigan caucus (with 128 pledged
delegates at stake) would be an acceptable compromise ...

While I agree that this solution has merit I believe a penalty is still necessary to discourage bad behavior. We want the rank and file Democrats to be heard. The DNC would strip the SD's and the Add-on delegates from both states because it is the state party leadership that was responsible for this mess. Then we have the appropriate folks paying a penalty.

Although the Florida Republican Legislature made life difficult for the Democrats; last summer the DNC offered to pay for a separate Presidential nominating primary but the Florida Democrats turned it down.

The other caveat I would place on this is that MI should hold what's known as a firehouse caucus. Its no different than a regular primary election but it may have shorter hours and some precincts are consolidated because only one party is voting. Ballots are secret and the hours are long enough for people to vote and still go to work.

Rank and file Democrats in Florida and Michigan are heard which is what most of us want.