So basically they are threatening Dean to break the rules.

Well, now we know the real puprose of that big meeting she had with her maxed out donors earlier this week.

"venture capitalist Alan Patricof,"

Who the f--- is this guy and why the f--- should we listen to him??? Excuse my French, but this whole premise is absurd. Some corrupt backdoor moneyman is giving orders to the head of the party?

Talk about an unelected, unaccountable, corrupt oligarchy.

So, unable to beat Obama in terms of votes or delegates, now the Clinton campaign is resorting to blackmail? Maybe that's an uncharitable interpretation of Korge's statement, but it certainly sounds that way to me. And it's not far off from Ferraro's "stop picking on me or I won't give you money" schtick earlier this week.

What's next? I'm half-expecting a National Lampoonesque "Nominate me or we'll kill your dog" kind of thing.

Mr. Cejas, if you really feel this way, you can take the next tire back to Cuba.

Hillary is just whinning louder and LOUDER. I am so sick of her whinning.

No do-overs!!!

Give the FL and MI half weight and no superdelegates AT ALL.

Let her keep them but give each one 0.5 weight.

End of story.

I find it funny that the outrage is over Dean and not these individual states and their leaders for disenfranchising their citizens. Keep the eye on the ball people. The democratically elected leaders of both Florida and Michigan brought this on their own citizens.

Can you legally get your money back after you donate it? I mean finders keepers.

And I love that they are so concerned with disenfranchisement when they got the majority of the vote, yet they have no problem essentially stuffing the ballot box with 10,000+ votes at a pop for every superdelegate they try to use to hijack the popular will. Yeah, Hillary just loves democracy:

http://www.thepersonalispolitical.com/2008/03/case-study-hillarys-doublespeak-and-her.html

Good old fashioned blackmail.

All Dean and the DNC have to do is ignore Hillary's blackmail and turn to Obama's 1 million plus grassroots donors. Dean has been working at the grassroots for several years; Obama took the idea and ran with it.

Hillary is not only bottom feeding, she's living in the distant past. Dean has no reason to pay attention, either to her or to her high-priced donors.

If you believe in Dean and believe in the 50-state strategy that Clinton and her minions are so allergic too, then show Dean some love:

http://www.dnc.org/splashcrowd.php

If it weren't for Dean (and the online grass roots' support for a 50 states strategy), we wouldn't have taken 2006 as big as we did and Barack Obama's campaign would be a shell of what it is today. After all, he IS following the Dean strategy.

http://www.dnc.org/splashcrowd.php

I made my donation. How about you?

From the Desk of:

Howling Wolfman

Senator Clinton wishes it to be known that some of her biggest financial backers have donated a lot of funding to the Democratic National Committee, and they wish to have the favor returned by Howard Dean.

They have made it very clear to Mr. Dean that he should consider those donations as actually bribes, and if he will not fix the Florida and Michigan Primary outcomes in Hillary's favor, then those big donors will demand that Howard Dean return their Bribes, I mean donations.

Hillary Clinton approves of this message, and also approves of John McCain as Commander in Chief, ahead of Senator Obama.

"If my vote doesn't count I want my $28,000 back?!" Why should his vote count more than anyone else's?

This illustrates perfectly why a stake must be driven through the heart of the Clinton-Big Money wing of the Democratic Party. These mega-donors are trying to throw their weight around in internal party matters the same way they do with legislation that threatens their interests. Obama has shown what can be done with a people-powered small donor fundraising model. Clinton, OTOH, relies on the Terry McAuliffe-suck up to the big donor model. As long as the Clinton model is allowed to persist, corporate Democrats will only be slightly bluer versions of their Republican counterparts. I can't wait until Obama's people are running the DNC and these fat cat Democrats have one vote that counts the same as everyone else's.

For the remaining honest Clinton supporters- THIS is what you're supporting. Aren't you proud?

Overturning the will of the people is fair. An election with only one name on the ballot is fair. Blackmailing the DNC to win an election is fair. Seems like a reasonable stance to me.

Now you know who would actually be calling the shots in a Hillary Rodham Clinton administration.

I hope Dean is smart enough to realize a few things. As the General election rolls around, Patricof and the others will still be sending their money to the DNC; this is an empty threat. If the Dems lose this election, they are likely to lose the SCOTUS for a long time to come (Stevens is 88, Ginzberg 75). If McCain wins where do they suppose Lieberman's votes will go? No matter who wins the nomination, there will be hurt feelings and disaffection on the other side. Big time donors know it's not about sentiment, but about influence. They will fight like hell (with their money) to make sure the Dems can keep their majorities. I hope they keep in mind it's never to late for the Republicans to attain a big swing again a dispirited opponent and regain their majorities. Finally, almost everyone agrees the delegations will eventually be seated in some fashion (I still believe the 50/50 option is the eventual choice of the Credentials Committee, you heard it here first). If re-vote attempts fall flat this next week, then it doesn't seem there will be time for any other alternatives. The half-votes scenario for FL will only fly if it applies to the supers as well.

There has to be sort mechanism devised for a re-vote ASAP.

Major Clinton Fund-Raisers are threatening to withhold donations to the DNC unless the Florida delegates are seated with the January results or there is a new primary. the January primary was in violation of national party rules and a new primary would not Florida pass state law.

To show the DNC that Obama supporters are inclusive of all Democrats and are committed to a fair and just resolution of this process, I am asking that people make a Money Bomb donation to the DNC adding $.46 to represent Obama's age. We are not threatening the DNC by withholding funds but ask that the resolution be fair and by the rules of the party, which Obama has stated all along..

Show your support by donating $5.46, $10.46, $25.46, $50.46 to the DNC as a Money Bomb showing a commitment to a fair and inclusive process to the seating of the Michigan and Florida delegates.

https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute?outreach_page_id=2037

Gee, imagine that!
HRC's supporters pressuring Dean to get actively involved in resolving the FL and MI difficulties! How dare they!
And of course we all know that Obama's supporters haven't been pressuring Dean and the DNC at all now have they?
Oh wait, what about those threats to destroy the party if Obama doesn't win the nomination?

I still can't figure out if most of the posters here suffer from a mental disease or if they just prefer living their life in a long continuous delusional state.

Dean has already resolved it. He told Florida and Michigan that if they moved their primaries up, their delegates wouldn't be seated. They moved their primaries up. Their delegates shouldn't be seated. It's really frikkin' simple, isn't it?

They should probably do what the Republicans are doing and seat half the delegates. Either that, or give Hillary ONE more delegate from each state and seat them all.

Is anyone besides me getting sick of seeing Hillary try to smear and cheat her way to the White House?

As Mark Shields observed on Newshour last evening,,,,,,, if the DNC does not stick to the decision that was taken,,,,, it will be utter madness next time with primaries starting in August. At best, split the delegates 50 / 50 between the two campaigns, and seat them and tell them never again,,,,,, or seat them, and not let them vote in the nomination process come convention time.
Bad behaviour is never to be rewarded, Period.

Dean's not going to let them buy the nomination for Hillary for a few hundred thousand dollars.

Of course, this whole things also shows what kind of Democrats the Clintons and their supporters are.

Patricof should shut the f&@# off and leave DNC alone. Dems can do without him.

The blatant nature of this blackmail will only make Hillary look even more desperate than she looks now.

She had all the qualifications, the name recognition, and the money---and ran the worst campaign since Dukakis. Now she seems quite willing to destroy the party in order to get the nomination.

There is no way she should be the nominee by any fair standard.

Top Hillary Donor Directly Pressures Dean: "Exercise Some Leadership" On Florida And Michigan
By Greg Sargent - March 15, 2008, 10:31AM

Now they want Dean to "exercise some leadership" over Florida and Michigan. Where were those clowns when Dean needed their support when Florida and Michigan went ahead, against the wishes of the DNC, and violated the rules that both States had signed on to. Those Hillary Fat Cats sure were strangely silent then, weren't they, because they thought they were pulling a fast one on behalf of Hillary. Now that they are the ones that have gotten Hillary's you know what caught in their wringer, they have started howling for Dean to come and rescue her.

He warned them not to do it. but they went ahead anyway. You did your job Howard. Let them endure the consequences of their arrogant and willful flaunting of the rules that had been agreed to by all.

The Clinton campaign has an amazing Spears like ability to redefine the meaning of hitting the bottom. Everytime you think they can't fall any lower...

Yeszzz, those bad bad bad states broke the rules and must be punished!
Even at the coast of alienating a huge swath of voters needed for victory in the Fall, well so what, let's all cut off our noses in solidarity shall we?

Please remember why this we find ourselves in Land o' FUBAR.
The issue of breaking a few itty bitty states' stranglehold on the primary/caucus schedule started this, has not been resolved, and will not go away just because Dean and the DNC need to punish FL and MI.
Behind the scenes this is the larger issue and FL and MI largely get the sturm und drang they do because many many states are intent on breaking Iowa and New Hampshire's grip. Thus the support (or not) for seating their delegations, despite the rules, comes from more than just the candidates and their fans.
The State parties are the real players here.

If only it were just about the "elected" delegates for Denver!

Yeah, it's critical to their attempt to seat the delegates "won" in a non-election as part of their overall strategy, having lost the elections decided by the votes of the people.
If these f**kwads get the supers to roll for them or manage to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations, Hillbillary will be crushed in the general and she will richly deserve her fate.

I think I've devised a solution that will satisfy all parties.

The Clintons love to cheat, so someone should be cheated.

Obama has said he will abide by whatever is decided. His compliant position should be appropriately rewarded.

Those establishment democrats who are not looking forward to losing power in the event that Hillary loses the nomination should have their tenacity rewarded.

The solution: seat FL and MI delegates and pledge all of them in support of Obama.

I'm sure Clinton supporters see the added bonus this would include for Hillary, but I'll mention it anyway. By accepting this solution, she would pass the "I'm not really the Hillary you've come to know in this campaign — I was just kidding!" and by so doing, would preserve what little remains of her and her husband's reputations as Democrats.

Yeszzz, those bad bad bad states broke the rules and must be punished!

But you good folks keep it up- you make more enemies for the Clintons every time you open your mouths.

Looks like the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) Democrats want to take control over the DNC. I personally think the your DNC chair is doing his job by staying impartial and following the rules & bylaws set down by his party.

http://www.dlc.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council

wiki should be viewed with a cautious eye due to the very nature of its posting rules.. I urge you to do your own research if interested.

Yikes! So now Hillary donors are resorting to blackmail to force the DNC to allow Hillary to cheat. She must have pitched this idea to them at her Thursday fundraiser. Yecch.

Lord, I have been just trying to survive through 8 years of this reality-bending wordplay-instead-of-leadership crap. I wish HRC and her troupe of bad actors would just shut up.

What is REALLY happening is that they are staring down the muzzle of a scenario where Florida DOESN'T re-run the primary, and Michigan does, which is the worst of all possible outcomes for them.

You can't take the existing results because A) the rules were stated clearly and both states knew the game they were playing when they broke them ... if Dean let's that go unchallenged, he effectively abdicates authority of the DNC, and B) Obama WASN'T ON THE MICHIGAN BALLOT, so that was not a representative contest.

So it is idiotic on the surface of it all, yet these boneheads continue to aggressively pursue this Pyrrhic campaign that is ... unbelievably after 8 years of the f**king Monkey in Chief ... going to end up with Grandpa McCain in the White House. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

I don't get the impression that Howard Dean is an easy guy to push around. I guess that's what I have to bank on for now.

I sent the DNC $75.01. It's not venture capital, but it's a start.

Downticket races shouldn't be held hostage to this nonsense. Dean is just enforcing the rules, and staying out of the fray while the states solve the problems they created.

There's more to this party than the POTUS race. Whichever presidential candidate you support, show the DNC some love, so they know that small donors appreciate fair dealing.

I truley wish those of you that are card carrying dems the best of luck in November. This post is NOT meant as a reflection on your Presidential candidates or your inter party tactics.

Lets look forward to the General election. For those of us who are not card carrying Democratic party member (Indies,newbies & crossover voters).

If you are inclined to thwart the continued Bush/Cheney policies in 2009 what do you do? I would urge you to vote FOR your States Dem nominees for Senate & Congressional seats in this primary. Whether or not the Dems can unify their party before the General is up to them alone. I'd rather not speculate on that in this posting.

1 In the General vote FOR your states entire Dem Senate and Congressional seats.

2 Decide to vote AGAINST the Dem nominee by leaving the Presidential slot BLANK in Nov 08

3 Vote with your feet by not showing up to vote in Nov 08

4 Vote for the Dem Presidential nominee just because thats the only choice you have been given.

5 Most importantly vote FOR the Presidential candidate because this candidate is YOUR choice.

I am NOT a follow my party right or wrong voter..I'm not even a member. However I do wish to thwart any more of the Bush/Cheney policies of the present. Therefore I will vote FOR my states Dem Senate & Congressional seats that are in play during this election. It will be interesting to see how many Indies and newbie & crossover voters feel the same way.

On to this Convention...
The Dems will have August 25-28 their convention thru Nov 4th 2008 to try to heal their party... I'm not optomistic about their chances to do that.

I am not a member of any organized party--I am a Democrat. Author: Will Rogers

It is a pretty amazing turn of events that has caused the blame to be put on Dean and the DNC. Here's a thought - when your state's primary has been stripped of all of its delegates, don't hold the damn thing anyway, waste millions of dollars, and then demand someone else pay for a do-over.

Based on the plain facts quoted here and linked below, I wonder what these donors' real object is:

"What would happen if an agreement were announced today that there would be re-votes in Florida and Michigan? Immediately, the previous primaries in those states would become dead letters. Instead of being 200,000 votes down in the popular vote (by her campaign's count), or 500,000 down (by my count, which gives Clinton her Florida votes), Clinton would be down in the popular vote by almost 1 million. And 193 delegates that they are currently counting would suddenly disappear.

"And at that point, the magnitude of Clinton's deficit would be too obvious to spin away. Yes, there would be two additional large-state contests in which to win back the million popular votes and hundreds of delegates. But unless she did significantly better in both states than she did in the illegal primaries, she would lose, not gain, ground, by her own calculations. Since she was on the ballot alone in Michigan before, it's highly unlikely that she will do better there. It's very possible that she could do better than the 50 percent she won in Florida in January, but since it would now be a two-person race, it's a dead certainty that Obama would do significantly better than the 32 percent he got in January, thus adding to his total popular vote margin and delegate count even if he lost again, and so it would be a net loss for Clinton. Re-votes cannot help Clinton be "perceived" as the winner of the popular vote."

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=03&year=2008&base_name=why_clinton_doesnt_want_a_revo

The DNC needs to hold a fundraiser or do something to come up with the money to hold new primaries if they aren't going to accept the prior Fla. primary.

The DNC had no right to strip Fla. of their delegates just because they moved up their primary. Maybe Fla. and Mi. shouldn't have done that but DNC's action was worse. What/who do they think we are here in U.S. - a dictatorship? This is DNC's fault, so they need to be more active in resolving it! Damit!@

They will not get another dime from me until/unless they do something. Florida and Michigan need full and fair primaries now.

Rae

The headline should read "Clinton Fundraisers Pressure Dean to Seat Florida Delegates As Is."

Coincidence that at the same time they're pressuring Dean to capitulate, Florida's Clinton supporters in congress are refusing to consider a re-vote? Methinks not.

At the same time, Hillary finally states publicly that her minions in Fla won't let the revote happen, or won't let the re-vote happen unless the circumstances are more favorable to her, or negotiate something more than the 50/50 solution.

Obama says little, because he's not into lying to the public.

Yet another example, as if we needed one, of the distinctions between the top-down dark backroom big contributors campaign and the bottom up sunlight fairness campaign.

Excellent catch.

Yes, Greg, where is the McAuliffe angle? Did your source not mention that?

I am a Florida voter, a fifth-generation native Floridian, and a registered Democrat that has voted in every election since 1984. I voted for Hillary in the primary (although my wife, and my mother voted for Barack). If my vote is not counted (or is nullified by splitting the delegates) due to the actions of the DNC, I will leave the party, and certainly will not contribute any money to the party during the election. I'm certain that this will be a common response among Florida Democrats, after so many heart-breaking elections and so much incompetence and fraud. We are a massive voting block. We should have a far greater input in the course of the primaries than we do, so the actions of the Republican state legislature were not of great concern to most Floridians. Florida has been treated like a red-headed stepchild, and continue to be. My choice will be to remove myself from this treatment by becoming a registered Independent, even though it will prevent my input in the primary process. Enough is enough, I say, and there will be many more like me. Count our votes as they were delivered, or lose the support and money of many, many fine, intelligent, passionate, compassionate people.

Iam tired of Florida...

barrystock,

We're sorry you feel that way, and we hate to lose any voter, but as far as I'm concerned you're a necessary casualty. In recent polling only 27% of Floridians want the Florida primary to count as-is.

I don't know why this is such a difficult thing to understand. Before any of the primaries took place, it was made absolutely clear to Florida that their votes would not count if they broke the rules. All of the candidates were on board with this, and signed pledges to that affect. That one of those candidates now wants to break that pledge is completely unconscionable.

To seat Florida's delegation would be a slap in the face to the 48 states that abided by the rules and held their contests accordingly. If you and your "massive voting block" can only participate in lop-sided contests that proclaim your own superiority over the contests of other states, of ththose willing to hold free and fair elections, then we are better off without you.

All the best to you in your independence.

Hillary has not been able to win with substance, experience, Bill, claims of victimization, race baiting, so now her surrogates begin the threats of destroying the Democratic party. This isn't about resolving Florida and Michigan, this is about undermining the democratic process and bullying the powers to ignore the primary elections and anoint Mrs. Bill Clinton the nominee. If their extortion works in overturning the decisions about not seating FL and MI, their demands will increase.... it will not be the end.

I hope Paul Cejas and Alan Patricof are subjected to unrelenting public ridicule and pressure. This is the Clinton way, big bucks rule. Enough of it, now!

As a nation, we should disenfrachise Floridians for any national election until they get their election processes in order. Florida election officials are corrupt and incompetent. They gave us George Bush, and now they want to give us Hillary Bush-Clinton. The citizens of Florida need to act to clean up the elections messes in their state before screwing up more national elections.

How exactly is Hillary going to explain this to her donors:

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillary-in-da-house.html

Ouch.

"Ouch."

Seriously. These Hillary songs and videos have convinced me of one thing: If she wins, America will officially become the land of the terminally unhip.

Wait, let me get this straight:

"Do as we command, and make less money from Obama."

Hmmm, an offer I can't refuse?

does anyone know who won the Iowa delegate show down today?

They can take their ball and go home.

Obama beats McCain in the general without Florida - so there. (http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/03/06/electoral-math-as-of-030608-clinton-276-mccain-262/)

When either candidate secures the nomination, Florida and Michigan can seat their delegates and the can all vote or the winner. They should not get a say now. Try winning the election without the 48 states that did play by the rules.

DONATE HERE TO THE DNC, to show that the people are watching and we don't want any back-door deals, nor do we want Dean to bend:

http://www.actblue.com/page/glindthegoodwitch

(I already donated $50.01, and everyone is being asked to add
.01 cents to your donation to show Dean that ordinary Americans are watching what goes on and that we support him in standing by the rules that EVERYONE CHOSE TO FOLLOW TILL NOW! Please post on other blogs and fwd this to everyone you know!

From the website:

I believe that the Democratic Party is stronger if the grassroots is strong. Let’s take our party back from the corporate and the big money interests that have been a destructive force in our country.

"Let’s send Howard Dean a little love.
Let’s replace the $168,500 in donations that disgruntled “fat cats” are threatening to take back from the DNC.
So click your heels together and repeat: There’s no place like the grassroots.”

I created a fundraising page at the DNC's website in relation to this, if anyone wants to donate:

Take Your Money Ball and Go Home!

Florida doesn't matter? tell that to Al Gore. The shortsightedness of Obama-bots and the DNC is unbelievable. Can the DNC and the Obama campaign honestly believe that if he wins the nomination by denying the people in FL and MI a chance to have their voices heard will then develop collective amnesia? If they don't matter in March, then the shouldn't matter either in November.

And in terms of donations, if their votes don't matter then neither should their money.