19 down, eleventy million more to go for Hillary.

It was important for Rep Wexler to accurately represent Sen Obama's role in this mess.

Ugh. Opening this meeting up to an audience has made it pretty painful. The cheering and booing just seems out of place in a meeting like this.
It just makes the politicians grandstand more. Seems like both candidates have a decent amount of folks there, though.

Five bucks Wexler gets called a sexist later for being snide to Flournoy (?).

How extraordinary of Obama to concede that, yes, FL is a state and its people deserve to be counted too. Hooray for enfranchising every other person!

I know Wexler and I know how much he must have enjoyed the smack down he just gave Ickes.

Does the offer include half votes for the Florida Supers as well? I sure hope so b/c a good portion of them votes with the GOP to help cause this mess in the first place.

I just don't see how they settle MI at all. I hope they can resolve today, but wow, I just am worried about it.

Wexler was terrible. When asked about seating all delegates he botched it completely. Ickes question specifically about what was the compromise especially. He should have said to the effect - The compromise is in accepting that the results at all should have any bearing in delegate distribution. That Barack Obama and many citizens of Florida listened to and accepted the RBC's ruling and believed them when it was said that the votes wouldn't count and the primary was illegitimate. Barack Obama didn't campaign in Florida, either did Hillary Clinton, but Barack Obama was largely unknown at the time, and polls show that he gains wherever he campaigns - down 20 points in Texas before he campaigned, down 20 points in Ohio and Pennsylvania before he campaigned to close the gap by half. Furthermore one of his strengths is the young vote and many young voters are not home owners thus this block of voter had no incentive to go to the polls at all. Both instances hurt Sen. Obama but as a show of good faith and in the desire for unity he is willing to compromise and accept the Florida vote as legitimate at all. However he feels that granting them full seating penalizes him unfairly because he followed the rules set by the RBC. Furthermore if granted full seating what teeth will any future RBC ruling have?

Bob Wexler made just as enpassioned plea to count ALL the votes, you wouldn't think he was for the watered down version.

I think he unwittingly made Hillary's case just as well or better as Fl. State Sen. Athenia Joyner's not to punish Fl voters for the actions of a Republican legislature to count all the votes.

She was for the time honored tradition to honor all the voters who came out that day.

I love it!

It will also be interesting to see if the Clinton supporters are consistent in that they are pushing the idea that FLA shouldn't be punished at all because the evil Republicans moved up the date. Well in Michigan, the Dems were in power and moved up the date. So will they accept that Michigan should be punished? And if so to what amount considering they agreed to 100% disqualification of their delegates. To try and argue against that now as a committee is ridiculous and blatantly partisan.

I'm not watching any of this and haven't given it any real thought until now, but it seems to me that since would-be voters in FL and MI knew in advance that those elections wouldn't count (unless somehow validated in the future), huge numbers of them doubtless didn't bother to go vote. Geez, **I** would have stayed home.

Under the circumstances, the only fair way to proceed would be to stick by the rules and not count the results at all. No matter how you slice it, the process was all screwed up. They were botched elections, not some high-and-mighty cause that needs to be honored. All this "controversy" is useless and manufactured.

I would be down for them allowing them a numebr of uncommited votes to go to the convention because I bet most if not all of them would go to Obama.

As the son of a Professor of Law I urge you not to forget that they teach those trial lawyers how to parse like that in the first place!

This idiot committee should have decided on a solution on this last year before the voting started.

The RNC had a simple one - certain punishment of cutting delegates in half, and letting the states vote, keeping names on the ballot etc. Threatening to cut in half seems credible, so states can be assured you will follow through on the threat. FL and MI were under the impression - apparently correct - that they could cheat and then bully the DNC into counting them.

You know who should be punished, the idiots on the RBC and the other party leaders who created the mess.

I love how the RBC member from Florida cannot vote but Harold Ickes, a member of Clinton's campaign inner circle can vote.

Ickes is doing hit and runs. "Trying to curry favor with Iowa..." Good God.

That's very true KBLOW but it seems this kind of shifting rationale and parsing of words has been a prominent part of political life by both Republicans and Democrats since the 90's. My hope is that we can end this in favor of more plain English. It seems professors by virtue or their having to relate to students are able ot explain things more simply, while trial lawyers often have a vested interest in keeping things confusing. Of course this may be my own personal bias since I am in a doctoral program to be a political science professor lol.

Congressman Robert Wexler should have said:

The word of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

It so relevant in this case that it can NOT and MUST NOT be ignored.

Right now with Obama as the next Presidential candidate, African Americans stand now on the verge, the very threshold of Martin Luther King, Jr. promise land – to deny them that will undoubtedly so seriously damage the Democratic Party as to make it unviable in coming election, damaging it far more than Hillary’s lie that she won the popular vote will do, even as she fails to rally the party. It simply is not true, she made that up.

Hillary failed the test of character that Martin Luther King, Jr, spoke of in his Letter to a Birmingham Jail. She so often talks about the race card - which Hillary has play every chance she to do it.

Ickes is a jacka**. I knew that before but I really know that now.

I see that same 'Tell the truth' thing with Obama as well and am optimistic in what this would mean for his administration. I think a great example of how different he views these things is how he told his supporters not to demonstrate outside the RBC hearing while Clinton attepted to make it a circus.

I always liked Levin too. But he really messed this up and now he's trying to blame New Hampshire.

It must be exhausting fogu to 'hate' on Obama so much and so frequently. your attacks are presonal and petty. When I see someone with such visceral hatred for someone they dont know I suspect they are have issues they have nothing to do with the candidate and much to do with themselves.

invictus06, i agree with you 100% after this mess.

at least the Republicans know how to run campaigns and win. Even though they suck at governing! oh the irony!

Oh damn, Ickes is getting f-ed today

"a fair reflection on a flawed primary"

awesome

This Levin-Ickes moment is priceless.

I just got back from lunch - what happened with Ickes and Wexler?!?!?!

I've yet to see one giant foam finger in the crowd thus far. I'm disappointed.

David Bonior speaking for Obama's decision not to hold another primary.

He had opportunity to right a wrong. He should be treated accordingly and should accept that he had a chance at fairness but declined.

you aren't actually "live blogging" after all.

what's with the link on the front page?

Elizabeth Smith, condensed: "The votes that didn't count have to count now, Barack took his name off the ballot because he knew the votes didn't count so therefore his votes don't count, so therefore Hillary should get 100%. And caucuses really, really suck."

RBC Clintonites don't seem to respect their own ruling that the primaries wouldn't count. It's insanity. This governing body disqualified the two primaries, but want the non-binding illegitimate beauty contest result to have complete bearing on delegate allocation.

I simply am dumbfounded that these people can ascend to the positions they currently fill. I honestly hope they don't believe what they are arguing and just playing partisan games, otherwise the country is in more trouble than most realize.

You must have missed last weekend's coverage of the Libertarian Convention....that was good TV!

The way the Clintonites are arguing, it looks like Bill Clinton's phone calls paid off. If a mere two undecided members side with the Clintonites, Clinton could get 100% what she wants here - 55% of the Michigan delegates and 40% uncommitted - which they are fighting for of course because it would mean they cannot be counted to any delegate math until the vote at the convention.

The partisan-ness of this RBC is astounding. It's saddening and embarrassing.

Obama is a class act. Hillary is a classless ass.