RBC Meeting - No cameras this time

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Just 25 days ago, the whole political world was obsessed with the DNC RBC meeting to discuss the Florida and Michigan situations. Today, it was a little calmer as the RBC met by conference call.

There were two challenges brought before the RBC today. The challenge from Texas was originally thought to be a significant challenge to the Texas primary/caucus two-step. But it turned out to be a challenge to 1 Obama delegate due to irregularities at the Senate District Caucus. This challenge was referred to the Credentials Committee.

The second challenge is more interesting. From Wisconsin, it's a challenge to Clinton delegate Debra Bartoshevich. Bartoshevich has said she will vote for McCain, which should disqualify her from being a delegate. This challenge was also referred to the Credentials Committee. Expect her to change her tune or lose her seat.

Finally, the delegate slates for 9 states, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Virginia, were not compliant with gender equality rules.

One more thought. Looking back on the May 31 RBC meeting, it is amazing to realize that the race was over 5 days later, when word filtered out that Clinton was dropping out. In retrospect, it seems clear that the important thing coming out of the meeting was a decision, any decision, and it didn't matter what the decision was. Taking Florida and Michigan off-the-table was key to paving the way for Clinton dropping out, removing any excuse for her to stay in the race in order to make sure the two state delegations were seated.

Update: Colorado has too many male delegates:

The head of Colorado's Democratic Party has a problem to solve today - undoing a mistake that saw one too many men elected as delegates to the national convention in Denver.

Party rules require that every state's delegation be split evenly among men and women. But Colorado, with 70 total delegates, currently has 36 men and 34 women.

That means that Pat Waak, chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, has the unenviable task of removing a male delegate and making him an alternate, then choosing one of the alternates to fill the spot.

In the end, an alternate may be replaced as well because that group also must be balanced by gender.

Democratic Primary Information

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Here's a list of all the key information DemConWatch posted on the 2008 Democratic Primary:

• Superdelegate Endorsement List - The first, and most accurate, list of superdelegate endorsements available on the web. Frozen June 6, 20008.
  
• No Endorse List - Who's left - which superdelegates never made up their mind. Frozen June 6, 2008.
  
• Endorsement List by Date - A complete list of when each superdelegate was added to the DCW superdelegate post. Frozen June 6, 2008.
  
• Add-on List and Schedule - A complete list of the selected add-on superdelegates and the schedule for future selections. This will be updated until complete.
  
• Superdelegate History Tracker - Charts and graphs of endorsements by week since mid-January. Frozen June 6, 2008.
  
• Superdelegates by Position - Breakdown by Governors, Senators, etc. Frozen June 6, 2008.
• Superdelegate Ups and Downs - Changes in the number of superdelegates since December.
  
• Ultimate Delegate Summary - where the race for the nomination stood on June 6, 2008.
  
• Ultimate Delegate Tracker - Pledged delegates by state and media organization, all on one page, as of June 6, 2008.
  
• Edwards' Delegates Status - February
• Edwards' Delegates Status - May
  
• Florida and Michigan By The Numbers - what were the delegate count options for Florida and Michigan options before the RBC decision on May 31.
  

The Debt We Owe Tim Russert

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People in my generation grew up watching Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley bring us the Vietnam War every night with dinner. We none of us thought to question anything they said to us. As kids in the 60’s, they were “the source”. Back then, AP, Reuters, UPI sent feeds, and the networks and newspapers developed bureaus throughout the world to collect and disseminate “news”. Interviews of newsmakers were, for the most part, bland if not moribund.

“The facts” were often what “the powers that be” wanted “us” (the regular people) to know. That was brought home to us as a country in 1971 when the NY Times published what became The Pentagon Papers.

Tim Russert was a lawyer and a Democratic political operative before being hired as a suit by NBC. They sent him to run the Washington Bureau. In his 24 year tenure there he grew the NBC political machine in the face of networks cutting back bureaus around the world, and shifting the money from hard news to entertainment. He grew it with an absolute dedication to truth. Before Tim Russert, Meet the Press was a snore. He made it the proving ground for candidates, and the place where elected officials, military brass and others would get their feet held to the fire.

Mr. Russert did this NOT as entertainment, but with an unwavering dedication to being prepared, to knowing more about the interviewee than he knew himself. There were no “gotcha” moments, only that interview where one faced one’s own past writings, speeches and actions.

But what we, the viewers, didn’t see was what he did behind the scenes. How Mr. Russert coached his people to get to the heart of the matter, to seek out the important truths and steer clear of innuendo.

2008 is a transformational year in politics not only because of Barack Obama, but also because this is the first election where the internet is a more immediate source of news than TV and the wires: If for no other reason than there are thousands more citizen journalists than paid ones. While the technology of the internet makes possible a site like DCW, it exists because of that same Russert-like dispassionate commitment to getting the facts completely right on the part of DCW’s founders. There certainly is nothing wrong with opinion pieces: when we read other people’s interpretations, it can help us crystallize our own thoughts having drawn from multiple perspectives.

But there need to be places where the numbers are accurate, where “news” is based on what is, and not what the author personally wants others to believe. And that is the debt we owe Tim Russert. And by “we” I do mean “all of us”, whether we are writing on the front page, or in the comments section, or choosing what we want to email on to others.

Tim Russert instilled in all of us who watched him, and followed him, the idea that the individuals and institutions might lie to us, but we need to point that out not by yelling “liar”, but by being able to prove it. The delegate counts this year are fluid: pledged numbers change based on state certification and county/state caucus numbers which come weeks after that initial night, Superdelegate decisions flip back and forth. To this moment, we still do not have a full count as some Superdelegates still have not committed. (Call out to Al Gore -- where ARE you? Sorry, I digress.) And don’t kid yourself, those numbers, and their accuracy matter up to the final night of the count.

I had the pleasure of meeting Chuck Todd at the DNC RBC meeting (was it only 2 weeks ago?). I asked him about the video posted here at DCW showing the NBC Superdelegate numbers on the wall, and asked why DCW had spreadsheets and NBC didn’t. He explained to me that they really DID have spreadsheets, but that sometimes just seeing a list you’d written made it easier to pull the name you wanted. I must have had a disbelieving expression on my face because he said “No, really. Honest, we really have spreadsheets.”

I believe NBC does have spreadsheets. Because Tim Russert would have insisted on it.

G-dspeed Tim.

Michigan Delegate Update

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We're finally getting some answers on the pledged delegates from Michigan. After the RBC gave the Obama campaign 59 of Michigan's delegates (worth 29.5 votes), the question was, what did this do to the 36 already selected Uncommitted delegates? Somewhere between 22 and 36 of the 36 Uncommitted delegates had endorsed Obama. Would those delegates keep their positions? Would the others be replaced? We have an answer:

All of the uncommitted delegates chosen so far have agreed to support Obama now that he is the presumptive nominee, said state party spokeswoman Liz Kerr.

And then to meet the final RBC requirements:

The Democratic State Central Committee will choose 23 delegates Saturday for Obama and 22 delegates for Clinton, who has suspended her campaign and thrown her support behind Obama.

And we have the likely names of the Michigan add-ons:

When two more superdelegates are elected Saturday, they're also expected to be union leaders: Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr. and UAW official Richard Long.

A little closure for all the former delegate trackers out there.

The Silent Superdelegates

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With the final names being added to the DemConWatch Superdelegate Endorsement List, it's time to take a look at who, even at this late date, decided to forgo their duty of telling the Democratic Party who they support.

There are 98.5 superdelegate votes who have not endorsed a candidate:

THE UNSELECTED

There are 3 vacancies in the DNC, 1 from Illinois and 2 at-large. There are also 29.5 add-on superdelegates who have not been selected, for a total of 32.5 superdelegate votes that have an excuse for not making a choice.

THE EXECUTIVES
9 members of the DNC are prevented by rule from endorsing, so we'll let them off the hook:
Howard Dean, Lottie Shackleford, Susan Turnbell, Phil Murphy, Linda Chavez-Johnson, Rep. Mike Honda, Alice Germond, Andrew Tobias. Mark Brewer. We'll thrown in RBC Chairs Alexis Herman and James Roosevelt.

Update: The consensus in to the comments is to put Nancy Pelosi in this group as Chair of the convention. That's fair.

And I suppose we can throw Al Gore into this group also. Although in 2004 he was able to make an endorsement....

THE WASHINGTON WIMPS
There's obviously something more important to these folks than a simple statement saying, "we support the Democrat nominee":

Senators Joe Biden, Carl Levin
Representatives Bud Cramer, Nancy Pelosi, Jim Marshall, Nancy Boyda, Charlie Melancon, Edward Markey, John Tierney, Steny Hoyer, Collin Peterson, Gene Taylor, Charlie Wilson, Dennis Kucinich, Marcia Kaptur, Dan Boren, Tim Holden, Bart Gordon, Lincoln Davis, Nick Lampson, Don Cazayoux, Travis Childers, Allen Boyd, Tim Mahoney

Now to be fair, some of these Democrats come from relatively conservative districts where association with the national party may hurt them in their district, and Cazayoux and Childers haven't been in office for more than a couple of months. But for the rest, who knows why they stayed out of it.

AND THE REST
As they used to say on Gilligan's Island in the first season, when you're unimportant, you don't even get to be named. And we're not going to name them here. From the only Governor who stayed quiet, to a former Senate Majority Leader, to the many DNC members who are faceless and nameless most of the time, we say farewell, it's been fun Googling you the last 5 months, but it's time to move on. If you're still around in 2016, (yes, we won't care about you during Obama's reelection campaign) if you even still have a vote, then maybe we'll start this dance again...

Welcome back

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The RBC has just ruled that Florida's pledged delegates and superdelegates will be seated at 1/2 vote each.

The RBC has ruled the Michigan's pledged delegates be split 34.5-29.5 (69-59 at 1/2 delegate each), and superdelegates will be seated at 1/2 vote each.

Clinton campaign response

Today’s results are a victory for the people of Florida who will have a voice in selecting our Party’s nominee and will see its delegates seated at our party’s convention. The decision by the Rules and Bylaws Committee honors the votes that were cast by the people of Florida and allocates the delegates accordingly.

We strongly object to the Committee’s decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan.

The Committee awarded to Senator Obama not only the delegates won by Uncommitted, but four of the delegates won by Senator Clinton. This decision violates the bedrock principles of our democracy and our Party.

We reserve the right to challenge this decision before the Credentials Committee and appeal for a fair allocation of Michigan’s delegates that actually reflect the votes as they were cast.

Obama campaign response

“We're extremely gratified that the commission agreed on a fair solution that will allow Michigan and Florida to participate in the Convention. We appreciate their efforts, and those of the party leadership of both states, to bring this resolution about,” said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.

Superdelegate endorsements for Saturday 5/31

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While we're waiting for the RBC to rule, Clinton has picked up the first superdelegate of the weekend: Former Louisiana Rep. Buddy Leach has endorsed Clinton.

RBC Meeting Live-Blog

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We were originally planning on live-blogging the meeting with a few people that were able to get in. Since it appears that there will be massive TV coverage we will leave the live-blogging to you.

If anything interesting comes up from our friends on-site we will pass it along here.



You can read all of our previous RBC coverage here
Previous Michigan coverage here
Previous Florida coverage here
Delegate Tables are laid out for 5 different scenarios here

Agenda
May 31, 2008 - 9:30 AM
* Morning Session: Oral Arguments
* Afternoon Session: Consideration and Debate

You can watch CSPAN's coverage here starting at 9:30.

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Gregory Wallace Report: Democrats went behind closed doors until 1:30 am ET on Saturday but they did not reach their goal of developing a unified proposal regarding Michigan and Florida.

28 of the 30 members of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee were joined by DNC Chairman Howard Dean for the marathon dinner meeting which took place in a hotel ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. - ABC

Update: Lots of talk that a Florida resolution of seating all delegates at 1/2 vote is a done deal. Michigan is more difficult.

MI State Chairman Mark Brewer did say that Obama has 30 of the 36 Uncommitted delegates in his column. That's not out of line with our research that 31 of the 36 are Obama supporters, (although we could only confirm 22 of them). Brewer also said that there was an active effort by the Michigan Democratic Party to make sure the Uncommitted delegates supported Obama.

Al Wynn finally resigning

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Just a reminder that Rep. Al Wynn is finally official resigning this weekend. While we took Wynn off of our superdelegate lists in March when he announced his resignation, lets keep an eye on whether the media numbers, and even the Obama campaign numbers, go down by one after he quits. The non FL/MI number of delegates is 4,049, and the number of delegates for a majority is 2,025. No more rounding up to 2,026 allowed. The numbers will likely change after the RBC meeting tomorrow, so lets see who gets the numbers right.

Note: The Special Election for Wynn's seat is on June 17th, and when Donna Edwards wins the numbers will go back up by 1.

Michigan Democratic leaders ask for full seating of their delegates with 69/59 split

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Several Michigan Democratic leaders sent a letter to the chairs of the RBC last week requesting that the Michigan delegation be fully seated in August.
Here's the key section:

As a result, we recommended to the Michigan Democratic Party that the pledged delegates be apportioned 69 to Senator Clinton and 59 to Senator Obama. That approach splits the difference between the 73/55 position of the Clinton campaign and the 64/64 position of the Obama campaign. Our recommendation was based on our belief that both candidates have legitimate arguments about the Michigan primary.

This 69/59 approach was overwhelmingly adopted by the Executive Committee of the Michigan Democratic Party – which like the Rules and Bylaws Committee has members who are strong advocates for both candidates – as a position that can unify our party and put this issue behind us.

To that end, both of our presidential candidates have made clear that they want Michigan’s delegates to be seated without penalty.

You can see what the results would be in our Florida & Michigan by the numbers post.
And the letter in it's entirety:

May 22, 2008

Honorable Alexis Herman
Mr. James Roosevelt, Jr.
Co-Chairs, Rules and Bylaws Committee
Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol St., SE
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Co-Chairs Herman and Roosevelt:

We are writing to urge the Rules and Bylaws Committee to support the request of the Michigan Democratic Party that the entire 157-member Michigan delegation to the 2008 Democratic National Convention be seated with full voting strength.

The members of the Rules and Bylaws Committee are familiar with the sequence of events that have brought us to the present situation.

As a result of the hard-fought deliberations and recommendations of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling, in August of 2006 the Democratic National Committee adopted a new rule on sequencing presidential primaries and caucuses. Under this rule, the so-called pre-window states could each hold their presidential primary or caucus in January 2008, with the rest of the states following in February or later. The rule dictated that the pre-window states hold their primaries in a specific order — with New Hampshire coming third — and no earlier than designated dates between January 14 and 29.

While Michigan Democrats were disappointed that our state was not selected for one of the pre-window contests, we appreciated the new rule for adding a bit of much-needed diversity to the early nominating process, and as a first step toward breaking the Iowa-New Hampshire lock on the process. We notified the DNC that we would abide by the new calendar and its sequence provided that other states did the same. To be clear – the key issue which the new rule resolved was the sequence of the pre-window states, not just the number of pre-window states.

But at a press conference in Dover, New Hampshire last August 9, the New Hampshire Secretary of State indicated he was going to schedule his state’s primary before the date specified in the DNC rule, clearly defying the sequence and timing the Rules and Bylaws Committee had set. Michigan Democratic leaders wrote to Governor Dean asking if the DNC intended to enforce the rule against New Hampshire, but the DNC refused to act or even to answer our letters for months.

The Democratic National Committee then proceeded to selectively enforce its calendar rule. On December 3, the Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to give New Hampshire a waiver to move from third to second place in the sequence. Michigan requested a waiver and was denied. When the Rules and Bylaws Committee itself decided not to follow its own newly adopted, hard-fought for rules and granted a waiver to New Hampshire, it set the stage for the present situation.

How do we move forward and put all of our energy into winning the White House in November? We all agree that winning Michigan is crucial to that goal.

At the request of the Governor of Michigan, the four of us have worked to find a solution for many months. We looked at a number of options to “redo” Michigan’s primary vote, including a privately-funded state-run primary; a party-run primary; and even a vote-by-mail primary. We had extensive discussions with the Clinton and Obama campaign organizations and with the DNC staff in the course of considering these options. Unfortunately, for differing reasons, none of the “redo” options came to pass.

So we developed the following settlement recommendation to the Michigan Democratic Party.

The Clinton campaign has taken the position that the results of Michigan’s January 15 primary should be honored and that Senator Clinton should receive 73 pledged delegates in accordance with the vote she received. The Obama campaign has taken the position that the January 15 primary results should be ignored and that Michigan’s 128 pledged delegates should be seated but evenly divided 64/64 between the two candidates.

Both candidates have a basis for their argument. The January 15 primary result was flawed because Senator Obama took his name off the ballot. He interpreted the DNC injunction and his pledge to New Hampshire that he would not campaign in Michigan to require him to take that affirmative step. As a result, we did not totally agree with the Clinton campaign’s position that the pledged delegates should be apportioned 73/55 (Clinton/Obama) in strict accordance with the outcome of the primary.

At the same time, we also did not accept the position of the Obama campaign that the primary should be totally ignored and the pledged delegates should be evenly apportioned 64/64 between the two candidates, given the fact that almost 600,000 Democrats voted in the January 15 primary, 55% of whom voted for Senator Clinton and 45% of whom voted for Uncommitted or other candidates.

As a result, we recommended to the Michigan Democratic Party that the pledged delegates be apportioned 69 to Senator Clinton and 59 to Senator Obama. That approach splits the difference between the 73/55 position of the Clinton campaign and the 64/64 position of the Obama campaign. Our recommendation was based on our belief that both candidates have legitimate arguments about the Michigan primary.

This 69/59 approach was overwhelmingly adopted by the Executive Committee of the Michigan Democratic Party – which like the Rules and Bylaws Committee has members who are strong advocates for both candidates – as a position that can unify our party and put this issue behind us.

To that end, both of our presidential candidates have made clear that they want Michigan’s delegates to be seated without penalty.

Senator Obama recently said, “If I am fortunate enough to be the Democratic nominee, I can guarantee you that the Michigan delegation will be seated and they’ll have a full voice at the convention.” Senator Clinton said just this week, “If we care about winning [Michigan and Florida] in November, we need to count your votes now. If Democrats send the message that we don’t fully value your votes, we know that Senator McCain and the Republicans will be more than happy to have them.”

Senator Clinton and Senator Obama understand that penalizing Michigan would needlessly and pointlessly wound their candidacy. If you vote to penalize Michigan, you will keep this issue alive, distracting from the real issues in the campaign. You would also be penalizing our candidates and our party, and ultimately our nation, because you would be weakening our nominee’s chances of winning Michigan, a state that is critical to our winning the White House in November.

We believe that the Michigan Democratic Party’s consensus proposal can unify our party and allow us to move forward. We urge the Rules and Bylaws Committee to adopt it. To penalize Michigan would legitimize the selective enforcement of our party rules, would fly in the face of the statements of both candidates, and would jeopardize our chances of carrying Michigan and winning the Presidency. For all of these reasons, we must insist on Michigan’s full delegation being seated at the Democratic National Convention with full voting rights.

Sincerely,

Senator Carl Levin Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger DNC Member Debbie Dingell

cc: Members of the Rules and ByLaws Committee
Governor Howard Dean
Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Barack Obama

The big question is will the RBC be willing to fully seat Michigan? DNC lawyers told the RBC that they can't seat more than half of each delegation?

DNC Lawyers: Can't fully seat FL and MI

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DNC lawyers have weighed in on the FL & MI debacle:

A Democratic Party rules committee has the authority to restore delegates from Michigan and Florida but not fully seat the two states at the convention as Hillary Rodham Clinton wants, according to a party analysis.

Party rules require that the two states lose at least half of their convention delegates for holding elections too early, Democratic National Committee lawyers wrote in a 38-page memo.

The memo was sent late Tuesday to the 30 members of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which plans to meet Saturday to consider the fate of convention delegates from the two states. The party is considering plans to restore at least some of the delegates to make sure the two important general election battlegrounds will be included at the nominating convention in August.

The analysis lays out merits on all sides of the argument of how many delegates should be seated and how they should be divided. And it underscores a prickly problem — if the Rules and Bylaws Committee decides to restore any of the states' delegates, there is not a simple way to divide them between Clinton and Barack Obama. - AP

A couple of things. First, there are lots of simple ways to divide the delegates.

Second, I haven't seen the analysis, but I thought the RBC was free to come up with any solution they wanted. And I'm curious - if the RBC comes up with a solution that the DNC lawyers don't like - what is the DNC going to do? Sue its own RBC committee?

Update: TPM has the memo.

Al Giordano at The Field has the analysis.

Update: Here's a full PDF of the memo.

Update: A judge has ruled that the Democratic National Committee has the right to determine whether to seat Florida delegates. This is the case that Vincent DiMaio filed in 2007 and then filed for a Motion for Summary Judgment after the case was dismissed.


Previous posts on the RBC and MI/FL:
The Michigan 36
RBC Meeting is open to the public
Florida and Michigan Delegate Status
FL & MI By The Numbers
Florida and Michigan superdelegates
RBC Member predicts Florida will be seated at 50%
Rules and Bylaws Committee membership
DNC to hear MI and FL challenges on May 31st

The Michigan 36 - Obama gets 18 22

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Update 5/31: Given today's RBC decision to give Obama 59 delegates and 29.5 delegates votes out of Michigan, this post is no longer relevant, as the Obama campaign will be vetting all of its delegates, and any of the delegates below not approved by the Obama campaign will be taken off the list.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michigan selected 36 Uncommitted delegates at their District Conventions in April. The state of these 36 delegates, specifically whether they have officially endorsed Obama, has become important in advance of this weekend's RBC meeting. Knowing how many of the 36 are committed to Obama could make the difference in what type of deal the Obama campaign is willing to accept. We asked our readers to help us out, and they did.

Information was hard to come by - We weren't even able to find the names of 3 of the 36 delegates. We have all 36 names now.

31 of them have been reported to support Obama, but there aren't good sources for 9 of the 30. We will continue to look for verifiable sources for the rest of these delegates.

But we do have good sources for 22 delegates, and therefore we are moving 22 Uncommitted delegates into the Obama column in our Michigan/Florida sidebar counter, as well as in Scenario 5 in FL & MI By The Numbers. (This is up from 18 delegates as of the evening of 5/27).

We fully understand that a deal may be struck at the RBC meeting which makes this analysis all meaningless. But some have proposed that the Obama campaign offer to seat the Michigan delegation "as is", in order to take it off the table as an issue that could be taken to the convention. This analysis gives a baseline of what the Obama campaign is looking as they decide how to play things this week.

The delegates we have moved to the Obama column have Obama in bold.

District Level Delegates (Source in parens)
CD 1: Miles Baker - Obama (2)
CD 1: Abby Dart - Obama (2)
CD 2: Rillastine Wilkins - Obama (1)
CD 2: Joseph Zainea - Obama (1)
CD 3: Armand Robinson - Obama (2)
CD 3: Alice Corey - Obama (2)
CD 4: Mary Bacon - Obama (2)
CD 4: Robert Ciaffone - Obama (2)
CD 5: Floyd Clack - Obama (2)
CD 5: Geraldean Hall - Obama (2)
CD 6: Mark Miller - Obama (2)
CD 6: Marletta Seats - Obama (2)
CD 7: Leonard Smigielski - Uncommitted (1)
CD 7: Fran Sibley - Obama? (1)
CD 8: Irene McDonnell-Cahill - Teamster - Obama (1)(6)
CD 8: Griffin Rivers - Obama (1)(6)
CD 9: Catherine Martin - UAW (3)
CD 9: Doris Toney - Obama (2)
CD 9: Aldo Vagnozzi - Obama (1)(4)
CD 10: Rose Marie Fessler - Obama (2)
CD 10: Ken Pechette - Uncommitted (7)
CD 11: Marian Novak - Obama (1)(5)
CD 11: Michael Siegrist - Obama (2)
CD 12: Rory Gamble - UAW - Obama? (1)(10)
CD 12: Jennifer Miller - Obama (1)(11)
CD 12: Nancy Quarles - Obama? (1)
CD 13: Tim Killeen - Obama (1)
CD 13: Cecilia Walker - Obama (1)
CD 13: John Henry Davis - Obama (1)
CD 14: Dan Geb - Teamsters for Obama - Obama (8)(9)
CD 14: Elizabeth Jackson
CD 14: Frank Woods - UAW (10)
CD 14: Martha Scott - Obama?
CD 15: Derrick Jackson - Obama (2)
CD 15: Christina Montague - Obama (2)
CD 15: Lynne Schwartz - Obama (2)

Sources:
(1) - West Michigan Rising
(2) - Michiganders for Obama
(3) - Michigan Liberal
(4) - Susan J. Demas
(5) - Obama Community Blog
(6) - USA Today
(7) - Huron County Press News
(8) - Detroit News
(9) - Michigan Messenger
(10) - UAW
(11) - Macomb Daily

The 19 Statewide Uncommitted delegates will not be chosen until June 14.

Update: From the DNC Rules lawyers, comes a possible solution:

"Therefore, following the principle of fair reflection of presidential preference, it can at least be said that the “Uncommitted” delegate positions should be considered as being allocated collectively to the candidates whose names did not appear on the ballot: Senator Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards, Senator Joseph Biden and Governor Bill Richardson."

Happy Florida-Michigan week!

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Hello friends and neighbors,

This kind of feels a little bit like Homecoming week, right? A week's worth of hoopla leading up to the big game on Saturday. Two national powerhouses fighting for electoral supremacy.

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) will meet this weekend to consider what to do with the issue of Florida and Michigan and their willing decision to bust Party rules in the presidential nominating process.

Leading up to all of this - there are so many lingering questions: What will the outcome be? Who will be the biggest cheerleaders for each side? Will there be any entertaining means of deciding this such as a pie eating contest or a round of H.O.R.S.E.?

To add some insight into how we got here, I've pieced together a calendar dating back to 2002. This offers details on the history of the showdown, how we got here, and of the decisions that were made along the way. I hope you find this to be helpful reading.

To see the full Michigan-Florida Timeline dating back to 2002, visit www.MrSuper.org and see for yerself.

Happy reading,

-Ed.

UPDATE: May 28, 11:00 AM Eastern - the MrSuper.org Florida-Michigan Comprehensive Timeline has been updated. Quite a few updates today, all of which are highlighted in blue. Click here to view the entire timeline.

Register to Attend the RBC Meeting

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The hottest ticket this year (besides the convention) will be the one that gets you into the May 31st RBC Meeting in DC. You can register to attend the meeting starting at 10am today.

Click here at 10am to register. You will need to have a party builder account already setup. Registration is closed and tickets went VERY fast

Online registration will open at 10:00AM on Tuesday, May 27.

A meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee will take place at 9:30AM on May 31, 2008 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. This meeting is open to the public, however due to space constraints, guests are being asked to pre-register their attendance.

Meeting Registration

Guest credentials are limited to one (1) per person. In order to reserve a seat, please fill out the registration form at the bottom of the page. A confirmation message will be sent to the e-mail address indicated on the registration form. You must bring this confirmation e-mail, along with a photo ID, in order to pick up your guest credential.

Credentials must be picked up at registration tables located outside the meeting room between 8:00-9:30AM on May 31st in order to guarantee a seat. If reserved credentials are not picked up by 9:30 AM, they will be released and given out to other members of the public. Those with reserved guest credentials will be allowed to leave the meeting room, and return to their reserved seat.

Same Day Registration

If you are unable to pre-register, limited same day registration will be available. Same-day guest credentials will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis and are limited to one (1) per person. Individuals with a same day credential will be permitted into the meeting room as space permits.

Additional Information

In order to maintain the decorum of the meeting, banners, posters, signs, handouts, and noisemakers of any kind are strictly prohibited. Also, please be advised that the agenda for the meeting does not include time for questions from the general public.

And the schedule for the meeting...

What: DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting
When: May 31, 2008 - 9:30 AM
* Morning Session: Oral Arguments * Afternoon Session: Consideration and Debate

Where: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel - Salon I
2660 Woodley Road NW, Washington, DC

DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee to Meet Saturday, May 31st

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee's Rules & Bylaws Committee will meet on Saturday May 31, 2008 in Washington, DC. The Rules and Bylaws Committee will consider the two challenges that have been filed pursuant to Rule 20.B of the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules and Regulation 3 of the Regulations of the Rules and Bylaws Committee concerning the seating of delegations from Florida and Michigan.

Pursuant to Section 3.4(N) of the Committee's Regulations, each challenger will be entitled to present an Oral Argument before the RBC prior to Committee consideration for a period of 15 minutes each. A representative from each state party and from each presidential campaign will also have an opportunity to address the committee regarding each of the challenges. Oral arguments from the parties will be heard during the committee's morning session. Following a lunch break, committee members will consider and debate the challenges.

Update: A large number of people have complained that the website listed them as having successfully registered but never got an email to confirm it. According to the DNC you will need the email confirmation in order to get into the meeting

The meeting is supposed to be held in Salon I which according to the hotel website can hold as many as 800 people. The room can be combined with Salon II and Salon III for a total capacity of up to 3500. You can view the floorplan here.

If you did not get an email confirming your registration you can fill out a form on the DNC website.

Update 2: All indications are that the meeting will be televised - the DNC will be streaming, C-SPAN will be there, and reports are that CNN and MSNBC will be covering also. (They should only give the convention itself this much coverage),

This should all become clearer as we get closer to Saturday.

The Michigan 36

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Michigan selected 36 Uncommitted delegates at their District Conventions in April. The state of these 36 delegates, specifically whether they have officially endorsed Obama, is becoming important in advance of next weekend's RBC meeting. Knowing how many of the 36 are committed to Obama could make the difference in what type of deal the Obama campaign is willing to accept.

So we're asking our readers to help us out. Go search the internets and give us the information we need - Name, CD, affiliation (union, etc) if any, endorsement status, and, of course, a link.

We'll gather the information in this post, and give everyone a better idea of the status of the Michigan 36. To get you started, there are some links in the our April post, and links in this Kos diary.

The 19 Statewide Uncommitted delegates will not be chosen until June 14.

CD 1: 2 delegates
CD 2: 2
CD 3: 2
CD 4: 2
CD 5: 2
CD 6: 2
CD 7: 2
CD 8: 2
CD 9: 3
CD 10: 2
CD 11: 2
CD 12: 3
CD 13: 3
CD 14: 4
CD 15: 3

RBC Meeting is open to the public

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The next big event is not the Puerto Rico Primary on June 1st. It's a meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee which will be held on Saturday, May 31st at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC.





According to the Regulations of the Rules & Bylaws Committee for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Reg 1.7:

Official meetings of the RBC shall be open to the public.

That doesn't mean that anybody can get into the room, but it does mean that the press can be there at the RBC meeting on May 31.

There are more potential delegates being discussed at the RBC meeting (366) than all the pledged delegates left to be selected and the uncommitted superdelegates combined. It's the biggest "primary" left.

Previous posts on the RBC and MI/FL:

Florida and Michigan Delegate Status
FL & MI By The Numbers
Florida and Michigan superdelegates
RBC Member predicts Florida will be seated at 50%
Rules and Bylaws Committee membership
DNC to hear MI and FL challenges on May 31st

The DNC has released more information on the meeting

The DNC has just released the details on the meeting: It will take place in DC; it has a morning session (oral arguments) that begins at 9:30 am ET and an afternoon session (consideration and debate); and it's allowing the public to attend.

But there are caveats to this attendance: Space is limited and guests must pre-register. Also: "In order to maintain the decorum of the meeting, banners, posters, signs, handouts, and noisemakers of any kind are strictly prohibited. Also, please be advised that the agenda for the meeting does not include time for questions from the general public." - First Read

Florida and Michigan Delegate Status - 5/17

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With the looming 5/31 meeting of the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee, it seems that there is increasing pressure to find a workable solution that allows all sides to get most of what they want while saving face.

It may be that no one wants to find out how the RBC would try to cut the baby of Florida and Michigan in half, so it's in everyone's interests to find a solution that works.

In Michigan, a proposal has gathered the support of Michigan's Democratic party (including the governor and the state's Congressional delegation) to apportion the delegates 69/59, giving Clinton a 10 delegate "win" as the best possible solution given that Obama didn't even appear on the ballot in Michigan. Clinton has recently rejected the proposal, saying she wants the delegates seated "as is". This stance seems a bit odd, given that a.) the current results would give Clinton a 73-55 advantage, which is only 8 additional delegates than the compromise proposed (assuming that the 55 assigned to "Uncommitted" actually became Obama delegates), and b.) that the RBC is most likely to decide to cut Michigan's delegation in half unless a compromise is reached.

In Florida, the Obama campaign is starting to quietly suggest it can live with a compromise that gives Clinton another 10 delegate lead (the results were 113-74 for Clinton, a stronger 29 delegate win). Murkying the waters is Edwards - now that he has endorsed Obama his delegates are starting to switch to supporting Obama as well. Giving Edwards' 13 FL delegates to Obama cuts Clinton's advantage to just 16.

It appears that in Florida consensus is building that the RBC may just leave the election results in place and cut the delegation in half. The result of this would be Clinton 56.5, Obama 37 and Edwards 6.5; cutting Clinton's lead to either 19.5 or 13 depending on Edwards' delegates. Given the really small numbers involved here, I'm surprised Clinton is taking such a strong line against a compromise, given the likely reality. Obama is under political pressure to have a compromise in Florida worked out by May 20th, when he has a rally planned in Tampa.

So where does that leave things?

Michigan: A compromise plan endorsed by the state Democratic party that is being sent to the Rules and Bylaws committee is the most likely solution given Obama didn't appear on the ballot. Hillary ends up with a +10 delegate count and the Michigan superdelegates come into play.

Florida: No clear compromise plan in place, so I'd say the convention wisdom is the RBC cuts Florida's delegate count in half and leaves the election results in place, giving Hillary a +19.5 delegate bump, and the Edwards delegates become new quasi-supers, courted by both camps.

The situation is still very fluid but will likely come to a conclusion on or before the 5/31 committee meeting.

Morning update

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The Obama campaign is counting the Edwards pledged delegates. Sort of.

The RBC is going to seat some delegates from Florida and Michigan in some way, but it's still unclear what the solution will be. And remember:

The committee is not bound to select the proposals offered and has authority to reinstate any number of delegates and divide them in any way. - AP

The NY Times has more on the RBC, noting that the co-chairmen, James Roosevelt Jr. and Alexis Herman, will only vote in case of a tie.

What happens to Edwards' delegates?

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With John Edwards' endorsement of Barack Obama this evening, the question everyone is asking is, "What happens to Edwards' pledged delegates?"

Well, the first answer, is nothing. As we were reminded yesterday, pledged delegates can vote for anybody at any time. So, rules-wise, Edwards' endorsement is meaningless.

However, from a political and practical viewpoint, pledged delegates will keep their pledge to vote for the candidate they were elected for until "released" by that candidate. By endorsing Obama, Edwards finally ended his campaign, which had been "suspended" up to now, and "released" his delegates to vote for the candidate of their choice. Of course, these delegates may decide to follow their original candidate and support Obama, and Edwards will of course be contacting them to urge them to support Obama. But until these delegates speak up and say who they will be supporting, they will essentially become uncommitted delegates. Which, essentially, makes them no different than superdelegates. (We'll keep them in the Edwards column for now).

So how many Edwards delegates are there? Four from New Hampshire, 8 from South Carolina, and 4 so far from Iowa. (The names are at the bottom of the post).

But wait. That's only 16. The DCW tracker shows Edwards with 19 delegates. Why the difference? It's because Edwards is projected by The Green Papers to get 3 state-wide delegates at the Iowa State Convention on June 14. But as we learned at the Iowa Congressional District Conventions in April, these delegate projections are only estimates. And it's difficult to see the Edwards forces holding together in June. (assuming the race is still going on then). So those final 3 delegates will likely get reassigned to other candidates, leaving Edwards with the 16 delegates described above.

But we're not done yet. Edwards also won 13 delegates in Florida, all at the CD level. (He won only 14.4% of the state-wide vote, so just fell short of getting any state-wide delegates - he would have picked up 9 or 10 delegates if he had hit 15%). Whether he keeps them depends on 1) whether the Florida delegates get seated at all, and 2) under what rules they get seated. That will have to wait for the RBC meeting at the end of the month.

Finally, when the history of this nomination battle is written, one question that's going to be asked is, did John Edwards leave the race too soon? While it's impossible to predict that things would have turned out the same way had Edwards stayed in longer, there's no doubt that if Edwards has stayed in, he would have likely won a sizable number of delegates on Super Tuesday. And if so, instead of his endorsement being mostly symbolic, he might have ended up the biggest kingmaker of all, basically getting to decide whether Clinton or Obama would get his support, his delegates, and therefore the nomination.

Politico gives us the names of the delegates from NH and SC:

New Hampshire:
District Level Delegate: Joshua Denton, (Portsmouth) - Endorsed Obama 5/14
District Level Delegate: Deborah Bacon-Nelson (Hanover) - Endorsed Obama 5/23
Pledged Leader Elected Official: Senator Peter Hoe Burling (Cornish) - Endorsed Obama 5/23
At-large Delegate: Representative Sharon Nordgren (Hanover) - Endorsed Obama 6/3

South Carolina:
Robert Groce - Will vote for Obama 5/15
Marilyn Hemingway - Endorsed Obama 5/16
E Tim Moore - Endorsed Obama 6/3
Christine Brennan-Bond - Endorsed Obama 5/15
Lauren Bilton - Endorsed Obama 5/15
Daniel Boan Kershaw - Endorsed Obama 5/15
Michael Evatt - Endorsed Obama 5/15
Susan Smith - Endorsed Obama 5/15

(we mistakenly listed John Moylan as a delegate - he is an alternate. Official list.)

Iowa:
Merci Wolff (Sioux City) - Endorsed Obama 6/3
Machelle Crum (Newton) - Endorsed Obama 5/15
Arlene Prather-O'Kane (Cedar Falls)- Endorsed Obama 5/16
David Redlawsk (Iowa City) - Endorsed Obama 6/3

Florida: (CD districts shown)
1 Bill Vincent - Endorsed Obama 6/3
2 Mary Mooney - Endorsed Obama 6/3
2 E. Alan Brock - Endorsed Obama 5/17 (Back to Edwards 6/1 - see below)
4 Deborah Courtney - Endorsed Obama 6/3
5 Fred McDowell - Endorsed Obama 6/3
6 Debbie Boyd
7 Joseph Beutenmuller - Endorsed Obama 6/3
12 Justin M. Troller
13 Rita Ferrandino - Endorsed Obama 6/3
14 Sally Gene Frederick
15 Barry Randall Birdwell - Endorsed Obama 6/3
16 Linda E. Spisak - Endorsed Obama 5/17 (Back to Edwards 6/1 - see below)
24 Gregory M. Shimkaveg - Endorsed Obama 6/3

Update: NH delegate Joshua Denton endorses Obama. Sidebar will be updated after the Green Papers updates.

Update 2: From Crack the Bell:

Just got an email from Daniel Boan (Edwards pledged delegate from SC):

"Sen. Edwards's endorsement will be an important factor in how I decide to vote."

Update 2A: Supposedly John Moylon and Lauren Bilton said on CNN last night they were supporting Obama. We'll try to find confirmation. More from CNN:

John Moylan, a former senior adviser to the Edwards campaign, said the former North Carolina senator's delegates "are very, very committed to John Edwards."

He said at least six of his eight delegates in South Carolina are prepared to endorse Obama.

"I think you will see overwhelming support of John Edwards delegates standing with John Edwards, and now standing for Barack Obama," he said on CNN's "American Morning."

Update 3:

The co-chair of John Edwards’ presidential campaign in Iowa, Rob Tully, said he hopes the former vice presidential candidate’s supporters in the state heed his endorsement Wednesday of Barack Obama. “I was excited to see him endorse Obama,” Tully said. “I’m certainly going to follow his lead.”
...
Tully said he would reach out to those delegates, as well as others going to the state convention, encouraging them to close ranks behind Obama. “I encourage all our Democrats in Iowa to realize this race is over,” he said. - Quad City Times

Update 4: The names of Edwards' Iowa pledged delegates have been added thanks to Avi at Politico

Update 5/15 11:30 PM: Six delegates from SC have endorsed Obama and have been moved to the Obama column. We will update potential Iowa endorsements tomorrow.

Update 5/16: Machelle Crum, Arlene Prather-O'Kane (IA) and Marilyn Hemingway (SC) have been moved to the Obama column

Update 5/23: NH delegates Bacon-Nelson and Burling switched to Obama.

Update 6/1: The two Edwards delegates from Florida have been moved back to Obama by Green Papers pending further information on the status of all Florida pledged delegates after the RBC ruling.

Update 6/4: Major updates from yesterday. All Edwards delegates except 3 from Florida have endorsed Obama. Also, Edwards still has 3 state-wide delegates from Iowa, which will be allocated at the Iowa State Convention on June 14th. They will remain in Edwards column until then.

Moving the goalposts

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Moving the goalposts, what's the definition of victory, has been a controversial topic this year. But the goalposts have been moving for legitimate reasons, as the number of superdelegates has gone down and up and down and up again. On December 11, 2007 we were at 798 superdelegates (not counting MI and FL), but a week later we were at 797, and we haven't been back to 797 since. But with Travis Childers' big win last night, we're back up to 796 superdelegates, which gives 4,049 total delegates, with 2,025 needed to win.

But we're not quite done yet. There's one more Special Election to go, in MD-4 on June 14th, where Donna Edwards is a sure bet to win. Al Wynn isn't resigning until the end of this month, and we took him off our lists a couple of months ago, but others have kept him on. Either way, when he leaves, we'll all be at 796 supers. We told you, those goalposts keep moving.

Until Edwards wins the Special Election. At that point, she'll be the 797th superdelegate, there will be 4,050 total delegate votes, and it will take 2,025.5 votes to win the nomination.

And that's where the goalposts will stop moving.

Or will they? There is that pesky RBC meeting at the end of the month - something about a couple of states not having their delegates counted?