Well, clinton didn't break 50% last time, so why is this bad news? Presumably she wouldn't do any better and might even do worse.

I see a 50/50 split in the offing. But the clintons will keep whining and whining and whining until the end of time. Who wants a whiner in chief?

Hillary cant get a break...This makes it even more difficult for her. I wonder who they will blame for this?

They should take the delegate breakdown at the end of the process and apply the same percentages to FL.

Problem solved.

...feel that sting, that's pride...

Halve them and seat 'em or just seat 'em, it makes no difference in the end. I'll just be glad to get one of the goalposts removed.

The main reason why this hurts Hillary is it makes it impossible for her to keep saying that we should wait for a Florida revote thus allowing her to move the goal post back more. Now it looks like Penn is the only state that could give her any type of movement on Obama's pledge delegate lead. 1 problem though, even if she wins ALL the pledge delegates in Penn she is still behind.

This has been a FAKE issue, manufactured by the Clinton thugs, from the beginning. It was never like there is no solution EVER...etc.

At the end, in Denver, these delegates will be seated of course. For now, the fucking MONSTER won't be allowed to get a head jump, hoodwink the people, triangulate, just to MAKE THINGS LOOK somewhat better. I am happy with this decision!

Of course, I say all of this becasue I don't think she can catch him EVER, but she wanted to use all possible con jobs to MAKE IT LOOK LIKE she is closer than she really is...I am so glad, she will be talking to the hand!

Obama and Clinton were both on the Florida ballot. Clinton won. Divide the votes according to the vote. Easy.

But it won't happen that way. Obama will shriek, "GOD DAMN AMERICA!" and whine about how unfair the process is.

I like how she tries to slip in that Iowa/NH/NV moved their dates without mentioning that THEY moved because FL and MI were trying to move.

Iowa/NH/NV petitioned the DNC commitee for waivers that allowed them to move their dates and the waivers were approved.

It's a half truth but damn does it sound juicy to anybody not paying FULL attention.

I like how she tries to slip in that Iowa/NH/NV moved their dates without mentioning that THEY moved because FL and MI were trying to move.

Iowa/NH/NV petitioned the DNC commitee for waivers that allowed them to move their dates and the waivers were approved.

It's a half truth but damn does it sound juicy to anybody not paying FULL attention.

Wow. Finality. Whodathunkit.

Well, let's see where this goes, then. My money is on 50/50.

Florida won't hold a revote...Thank God!

If you go 50/50 with the vote, what about the superdelegates? Maybe give each superdelegate a 1/2 vote? ---------- If they come up with a truly reasonable solution, maybe Michigan would opt for it also instead of an expensive primary. The sooner all this can end, the better.

This is no way bad news for Hillary.

Howard Dean remains a total AH, incapable to take a firm stand. 170 unassailable delegates behind and Madam H keeps refering to the delegates that don't count in FL and MI to stay in the race.

No doubt, FL and MI will be seated. How? and How many? That's the question.

If Dean could just grow some balls and says:

Only half of the delegates would count and would be shared proportionate to overall popular vote- this thing can be rested.

I say seat the Florida delegation as is... and good riddance to the screwy-ass state.

It's already trending Republican, and with McCain at the top of the GOP ticket it's bad prospects for either of the Democrats this year. Clinton does a little better because she rather self-servingly fought to 'make their votes count,' but unless I'm mistaken, current polls show both Clinton and Obama losing the state to McCain by a comfortable margin.

I want a roadmap to victory in November that doesn't run through Florida, or at least doesn't make it a major part of the route. Let the old people have their old man.

This is a crushing blow for HRC.

For one, no chance at getting to her "won the popular vote" meme, now. No one can count the votes in Florida toward the popular vote.

And no chance of gaining a delegate advantage, either. They'll either be split 50-50 or seated after the nomination is decided. Either way, bad news for the Monster.

This really isn't good for either side. I hope the DNC has learned that revoking delegates may go a bit harsh for monkeying around with the primary schedule. Live and learn, I guess.

Considering that mathematically it is still possible for Obama to win the nomination you'd have to wonder why so many of them don't want a re-vote or just want them split 50/50. They'd rather disenfranchise voters than risk a loss that would give Clinton the momentum in the final days of the nomination.

Should Obama win it will be a false win and many Dems will not accept him as the actual winner. He is Bush to Clinton's Gore. He will be an illegitimate nominee. Or to quote Nixon regarding Kennedy:"He stole it fair and square."

Seat them at the Republican convention in Minneapolis!

McCain/Clinton '08!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe France could kick in some support for Louisiana too. And Russia could take Ted Stevens. The possibilities are endless!

F' Florida and F' Michigan.... and if HRC gets on the bandstand any longer stand up and say (rightly so).... "where was Hillary when this ruling came down 18 months ago? She didn't give a damn about that vote, or the committees decision. She even supported it back then. If you want someone who only has your back when it helps her, HRC is the obvious choice. Its just like her stance on the Iraq. When it was popular to support it, and winning favors from the Bush administration helped her campaign, she's practically loading the rifles. This even after her 10 years of 'experience' years of successful sanctions against Iraq"

I think Obama has to start playing the victory card. This primary contest is over..... getting further drawn into the primary takes his messaging off the big win, against McCain.

Psyched he's dealing with the Race card and Wright thing tomorrow.... I bet its an amazing speech.

Why don't Florida just go and have their general election early too... Oh wait, the law won't allow it!

You know, after all the whining the Clinton campaign has done about Florida and Michigan, I wanted to see what this decision to not hold a re-vote in Florida has actually cost her. And boy was I surprised...either I never knew or forgot that she only took 50% of the vote in the (non)primary. Obama got 33%, and Edwards got 14%. Which to my eye looks an awful lot like at best, with a complete re-vote, she could have gotten 67% (assuming none of her voters or Obama's have switched alliances in the meantime and she gets the votes of everyone who voted for someone other than her or Obama the first time around). So at best she would have gotten 124 of the state's 185 delegates with the other 61 going to Obama, netting her 63 delegates - which would still leave him over 100 in the lead.

But let's be real. No way would she pick up all the votes not cast for her or Obama the first time around. A much more likely scenario would find her getting half of those votes to lead by 58.5% to Obama's 41.5%, getting 108 delegates to Obama's 77, for a net gain of 41 - putting her 120 delegates out of the lead.

Considering she only got 55% of the vote in Michigan despite being the only name on the ballot, it's a safe bet that she would (and may still) net zero additional delegates from Michigan, and more likely, given her weak showing in the primary, will lose ground.

Suppose Obama was in a magnanimous mood and announced no objection to seating the full Democratic delegation from Florida, and the DNC went along...Hillary would probably net fewer delegates than if a revote was held, because there would be the gratitude factor on the part of those delegates currently pledged to other candidates who are no longer in the race. But even if she tied the result of the most likely re-vote scenario outlined above and netted 41 delegates, she would have to get 80% of the PA vote to draw even with Obama on the delegate count - and that's not taking into consideration any of the other states that have yet to vote. And given that it's unlikely that Obama will suggest or the DNC will accept seating the full Florida delegation, she's going to net at most 20 delegates there... which means even a 90% win in PA won't put her in the lead.

The bottom line is that this thing has been over for awhile, and re-voting would not have changed the outcome. All the re-vote speculation has done is to throw a smokescreen over the fact that the race is over and give the Clinton campaign some extra time to try to beg, borrow, or steal the delegates needed to win the nomination. Now that Florida has declared "no" on the re-vote, that smokescreen is going to dissipate fairly quickly.

If Obama wins the nomination by disenfranchising millions of voters in Florida his candidacy will be a worthless, undemocratic sham and he will lose in November.

In 1980 the state of Wisconsin violated National Democratic Party rules by having an open primary. The National Party said that Wisconsin's delegation would not be seated. The state party sued the national party to force them to seat the delegation, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Then the US Supreme court over ruled and stayed that decision. But in the end, the Wisconsin delegation was seated and today many states have open primaries.

Ok lovers of the clintons, why are they always trying to prevent people from voting? I don't get it. I thought that was a republican thing. I saw some posts about the clintons whining about texas. I didn't know what the issue was so I had to do a search. Gee, what a surprise there is no post on TPM. Anyway, they wanted the texas dem party to "verify" caucus goer signatures, which would cost a small fortune. WTF???????

Let's see, they filed a lawsuit to try to prevent caucus's from proceeding in nevada, they tried to prevent students in iowa from voting . . . . Is Von Spasky on the clintons' payroll? Next thing you know they'll be doing caging in the upcoming primaries. Unbelievable.

They are so gd republican. I wish they were running in the republican primary. I really do. This is sooooo Pathetic.

Obama won't have won the nomination by disenfranchising millions, he'll have won despite that fact.

It's not his fault Florida knowingly broke the rules. It's not his fault the DNC rules Florida's results wouldn't count.

testing

No one has to wonder that Obama is the source of all this divisiveness and race baiting.

Just look at the arrogance and vitriol of his supportors who feel an entitlement to both (1) divisness and (2) race baiting.

There is your proof it is Obama who has been destroying the Democratic Party. Just look at what his supporters continue to right.It is time to move away from this destructive person before he brings down the entire election. Nice way to go, Obama.

I see this as a bird in the hand for Clinton, and two in the bush for Obama.

If there is no revote, it gives some weight to the current slate of delegates as the only fair assessment of Florida's intentions.

On the other hand, if they are not going to be seated as is, it chops a bunch of votes away from Clinton's claim to the popular vote lead, and it kills her chance of mounting a string of late victories to catch Obama in delegates. Even if it is decided to seat them as is, Obama will start to pull away again after Pennsylvania, and Clinton will have run out of ways to catch up.

I hope the Democrats can navigate this to the finish line, but what Florida obviously needs more than anything is a reinvigorated state party. I didn't know that the bill setting the January date was named "537" in honour of Bush's victory, and it makes me angry that those buffoons obviously knew what they were doing and did it deliberately.

It's made me happy to see via the internet that Texas residents responded to Republican gerrymandering in their state by resolving to turf out the lot of them, and I rejoice in their success so far and hope very much that they can finish the job. Win or lose in November, Florida Democrats need to do the same. Only one thing will wipe the smirk of those people's faces, and that's spending the next decade on the minority bench.

Well maybe Publicus she is a Coniving IRON BITCH
that will say or do anything to WIN!!!
1.She will LIE
2.She will CHEAT
3.If 1&2 don`t work she will do a sneaky underhanded attack and STEAL the Election!!!
4.She is UGLY
5.People who get close to her have a nasty habit of disappearing and other things as well.

Thank God! Why should be give HRC another chance to steal the nomination?

Is he actively working to disqualify the IA, NH and SC results as well?

Why should he when those states had waivers from the DNC? Why did they get waivers? Because of Florida and Michigan moving their date up, and these state were approved by the DNC to be the first states to hold their primary/caucus.

This argument of yours is a red herring. Those states moved their dates up, with permission of the DNC, because of the actions of Florida and Michigan. Nice Clintonista Talking Point though, but No Sale.

On top of this, the Florida Democrats sponsored the bill to move the date up, with a nod and a wink to the Republicans for passage. There is a nice clip on YouTube showing that they knew exactly what they were doing, no Republicans shoved it down their throats, they did this willingly.

Trying to hang this on Obama is another Clintonista Talking Point. Hillary wanted to front load the primaries with the 'big states', and shut her competition down immediately so she could cruise to an easy primary victory. But it seems that she came up against someone who would not play her (and the DLC) game of 50%+1. Instead, he went to all of the states with the exception of Florida and Michigan, as per the pledge that both Clinton and himself signed, and he campaigned for votes the old fashioned way. He asked for them and gave damn good reasons why we should consider him.

It is ironic that Clinton and her supporters are calling for sympathy for the 'poor, disenfranchised people of Florida', calling for their votes to be counted, yet Hillary and her supporters dismiss 'small states' out of hand since they do not matter to them. It is just another example of Clinton Rules; if it is good for them and bad for their opponent(s), then it must be right and fair.

So people of Iowa, Idaho, Mississippi and all the other 'small states', what do you think of Hillary and her supporters saying that Floridians matter more than you do? They dismiss you out of hand while embracing another state, but hey!, she is a great candidate! Not.

The reality is that Hillary does not care about anyone but herself and her immediate family and friends. The rest of us matter to her only if we are going to vote for her. And with this attitude, you can bet that if she wins the primary and the general, she will dump on everyone she has to, just like when hubby Bill was in office.

This is over, Hillary has lost using every metric that matters, and she is only delaying the inevitable in the unlikely event that Obama implodes. The fat lady is going hoarse from the endless singing.