Ummm.. Shouldn't both camps ask the DNC? Howard Dean?

Well, Burton's reply of "sure we broke the pledge -- but that's only because the networks said we GOT to" doesn't really refuse anything, does it?

Hard to see how the hard-core Obama supporters are going to spin this as yet another example of Clinton's dirty politics. Because, you know, Obama is above the fray and would never do anything like breaking a no-campaign pledge.

Here's an update Greg:

“For that reason we consulted with … South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler who told us unequivocally she did not consider this to be in violation of pledge made to the early states,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

So Obama's national ad is not a violation. However, if Clinton campaigns there, it will be.

Yeah, I'm with others Obama screwed the pooch on this one. Clinton should definitely spend money in Florida. Definitely. I'd suggest at least mailers, canvassing, phonebanking, a couple of appearances, at least $3MM in Florida specific ads. Yeah, that should definitely give her a crushing victory.

Go Hillary!

She can waste money there if she wants, but with Florida coming up soon, it is obvious that the Obama team has no hopes of trying to win there, so they obviously don't want to make it an issue. Florida is a non-issue, and no matter what happens there, it doesn't count and isn't going to get much press, so whatever, non-news. There obviously isn't a way around doing national advertising but somehow skipping one state. If Hillary or Edwards ran national ads that had to, by definition, hit Florida too, I don't care, it isn't going to give them their delegates back, and it isn't going to make Florida mean anything, so it is a pointless criticism. What I'd say is going on here is Hillary is obviously the default candidate in all states, so she has an easy win where no one else can go, so while she is trying to lessen the focus on SC which she is about to lose and lose badly, she tries to make Florida an issue with this crap. Laammmee.

MO Blue,

The pledge had nothing to do with the DNC. It was between the state chairs of the early states and the candidates.

So Fowler was the one to make this decision, not Dean, though he'd probably agree.

Gs5326234dS cool site!!! [url=http://mardanows1.com]cool site!!![/url] http://mardanows2.com hj56ywhl

FlyOnTheWall, you're missing the point a little bit. This isn't a manufactured controversy, it's a manufactured excuse. Wolfson wants to campaign in Florida, and stroke the egos of people down there who are holding on to their sweet, sweet campaign cash out of pique, and, in the process, manufacture another easy "victory" in the runup to Supercalifragilistic Tuesday.

I just didn't think he'd be so brazen about it as to rely upon this.

Fascinating too how several "anynomous" posters on a NYT blog item on Obama's commercial immediatley chimed in about how this potentially represented campaigning in Florida before word of Wolfson's indescretion leaked out. Yeah, those weren't sock puppets. No way.

Marc. You're right. I doubt the Clintons give a darn about the DNC as long as it's lead by Dean, however. If she wins the nomination, they'll make haste to replace him with one of their own.

Gs5326234dS cool site!!! [url=http://mardanows1.com]cool site!!![/url] http://mardanows2.com hj56ywhl

Edwards, as I recall, ran a national cable ad on MSNBC a few months ago. Team Hillary did not cry foul or use that as an excuse to campaign in Florida. Likewise, they had no problem with the NV casino caucuses when they thought Edwards, rather than Obama, would get the Culinary workers endorsement. So this is obviously more Clinton opportunism. She knows Obama is her only formidable opponent, and wants to figure out a way to break her pledge. This reeks. It's obvious that putting out a national cable ad is not a backhanded attempt to campaign in Florida. It's way too expensive and inefficient if that were the intent.

Obama has already broken it.

wwjb,

The gist, if I understand your almost incomprehensible writing, is that Florida doesn't matter. No, Florida does matter. The delegates are suspended at present but can be seated later. A big win (if that happens) is a big win and Florida is one of the nation's largest states. The delegate totals at this point are not too important.

Mari wrote on January 21, 2008 6:48 PM:

"In the first place, it is truly stupid for any national party to romp over a state party with rules that exclude the vote."

You are absolutely right and I hope the DNC understands its mistake.

Obama should advertise in FL. It can only work to his advantage. The fact is, if you look at the data from almost ever state so far, it starts out with Hillary having at 10 - 20% lead, followed by Obama campaigning and shrinking her lead

I doubt Hillary can do anything in Fl to increase her lead. She is unlikely to win any Obama supporters and the best she can do is to hold onto her lead.

Looking at this another way, you can make an argument that Edwards and Obama made a bad, very bad, decision when they agreed not to campaign in FL and MI. Think about it. Polls show Hillary leading by 10 - 20+ points. What do Obama and Edwards do? They agree with Hillary that no one will campaign in those states.

This really inspires one about Obama's ability to be president. Big business has already made him break one of his pledges and the campaign has just started.

A national ad buy constitutes campaigning in Florida? WTF?... That's the same as saying that appearing on "Meet The Press" or participating in a nationally televised debate constitutes campaigning in Florida unless the stations in Florida don't broadcast it.

You can't make a national ad buy and black out one state... the networks/cable companies don't let you do that.

Get real....

Interesting, "Will Hillary Break the Florida Campaign Ban?" big, bold, front and center. Then a photo of Senator Clinton, then nice a small, less bold 'Obama runs Fl ad" (which you proclaim upon going to that story as 'inspiring')

Why is the headline not "Obama Breaks Florida Campaign Ban?" The spin isn't working either, wasn't it Senator Obama who recently sent out a memo stating that Clinton was breaking the ban because she was going to a fundraiser? Which WAS NOT part of the Fl campaign ban?

If he was told that cable cannot cut out national ads to just one state, and did it anyway, he still broke the ban and knew he was breaking the ban he agreed to.

The punishment of taking away FL and MI delegates was enacted when it did not look like the delegate counts would be so close going into the convention. Now that it does look like every delegate counts, all the campaigns should be doing what they can to get these delegates. Clinton beat the others to the punch. I live in Florida. Just because the candidates have not been in our living rooms, diners, and high school gyms sucking up in person does not mean we can't make an informed decision on Tuesday.

Do any one of these candidates want to win the nomination by refusing to recognize FL delegates at the convention?

I asked this same question a week ago, by the way, and no one wanted to talk about it then. Good for Hillary that she was thinking about it.

It is total BS to say it's ok to let Obama get away with breaking the rules because someone in SC said it's ok!

what freaking BS! Obama is not god!

I hope Hillary wipes the floor with Obama in Florida and mark my words, Fla and Michigan WILL BE seated at the convention!

What a cop out, what a crock of sh't to say it's ok for Obama to break the rules because he was given persmission.

IF IT WERE HILLARY WHO DID THIS THEY'D BE BREAKING INTO REGULAR PROGRAMMING ON YOUR TV TO ANNOUNCE IT!