Saturday, March 15, 2008

Florida Democrat party clueless; a solution

Not unusual: the Florida Democrat party bigshots are shooting themselves in their electoral foot, whilst Michigan gets its act together to organize an emergency primary election for presidential candidates.


June 3 Is Target for Mich Do-Over
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press
March 14
WASHINGTON (AP) - Michigan Democrats agreed Friday to push a do-over primary in early June to give them a say in the close presidential race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Amid talks with the two campaigns, the four Michigan Democrats said in a statement they were "focusing on the possibility of a state-run primary in early June which would not use any state funding."

...Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey has expressed concern they may not have the time or manpower to pull it off. She said they are trying to work through those issues.

Winfrey and associates are attempting to solve the problem. Good. It looks like the Michigan politicians have an IQ edge over the klutzes here in Florida, e.g., the leader of the gang, Karen Thurman:




Mail-in Dem vote for president not likely
Tamara Lytle and John Kennedy
Orlando Sentinel
March 14, 2008
Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman outlined plans Thursday for a do-over presidential primary by mail, but she acknowledged it's likely to be rejected by party leaders as well as the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns.

In Washington, Florida's nine congressional Democrats quickly dismissed the idea. An alternative would seek to persuade the national party and candidates to count half of Florida's delegates, apportioned by a negotiated formula or results of the state's Jan. 29 primary...



Sen. Nelson floats plan for counting half of Democratic delegates
John Kennedy
Orlando Sentinel,
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
March 15, 2008
Friday, Leon County Democratic activist Jon Ausman formally appealed the DNC's penalty against Florida, in an attempt to get at least half the delegation seated as well as all 23 of the state's superdelegates...

Well, at least Ausman is trying to do something.

Here is a simple solution, a new deal that might cut through the proverbial knot:

  1. In response to Ausman's appeal, DNC makes all of Florida's delegates super-delegates
    1. 23 original recipe super-delegates and
    2. 188 new-style super-delegates,
    each open for persuasion up until the convention. Advantage: side-steps Hillary Clinton sleight-of-hand in initial election, cheating claims become null.
  2. Schedule a dozen "listening sessions" around the state for voter input, prior to convention, and each super-delegate must attend at least one session. Advantage: Florida not totally disenfranchised.
  3. DNC commutes penalty: Ban the 188 new super-delegates from first nominating ballot only, activate for second and later ballots. This has the advantage that
    1. it will allow significant decision-making for Florida delegation being as how the current delegate count is neck and neck which means the first ballot might not get a majority;
    2. if first ballot does have a victor, the second ballot can be unanimous, Florida delegation can vote with all, thereby converting the entire scheme into an elaborate fig-leaf, but still worth doing;
    3. significant decision-making will also keep Florida in the headlines.

Disadvantage: this would have to be implemented

  1. by DNC, i.e., Howard Dean, so prospect of a smart decision is mighty bleak,
  2. and by Florida geniuses, who fall into Theresa LePore mode at the drop of the proverbial hat.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Yeah, right.

This is like the meeting at the liars club. "We'll mail in the ballots and that will be 100 percent honest and fair for sure. Yeah, that's the ticket."

Even if Theresa LePore stays out of it, how can a normal human being honestly trust the validity and reliability of a mail ballot primary election in which the two candidates are
  1. a Chicago machine politician and
  2. Hillary Clinton
It would be an act of unnatural credulity.
Crist proposes state oversight of a revote
BY MARC CAPUTO
Miami Herald
March 8, 2008
Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday he'll lobby fellow Republicans this weekend to help the Democratic Party out of its election quandary with a "blended" revote plan in which the party would pay for vote-by-mail balloting while the state would oversee it.

"If the Democratic National Committee would be willing to pay for it, the appropriate thing to do would be for the state to oversee it to ensure the integrity of the process," said Crist, who discussed the plan with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson...

Howard Dean, chairman of the DNC, says the national party, which stripped Florida of its delegates for holding its Jan. 29 primary too early, won't fund a new election.

Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami said he doesn't like Crist's plan because "our elections supervisors are already over-burdened."

"We already had an election. A record number of Democrats voted. Why can't they just . . . respect those votes and move on? I don't understand why Howard Dean is so obsessed with punishing Florida's Democrats."

Those ballots are going from the printers for a quick vacation in Chicago before the election, and then after the election they will be disappeared faster than a Gulf Coast attorney in a John Grisham novel.

Rubio has the right evaluation of New York bigshot Howard Dean. Obssessed.

This will not end up well. There is no graceful resolution, thanks to Dean and his associates.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Joyful noises

Band director Michael Simmons (left) talks to his Memorial Middle School class about their new instruments Tuesday. (ROBERTO GONZALEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / March 5, 2008)

I love this story, and you know the students are enjoying the new musical adventure. This is the perfect antidote to all the bad news today. One good teacher can make a difference, and Michael Simmons just did so.


Middle school emits squeaks and bleats after readers donate instruments, cash
Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel


Juanita Horgan planned to spend her bonus on a new wedding band for her husband. But the ring will have to wait.

The Florida Hospital nurse is among the hundreds of Central Florida residents who opened their wallets and dusted off their old instruments after a Feb. 10 Orlando Sentinel story about Memorial Middle School's band and the aspiring musicians whose families couldn't provide them with clarinets, trumpets and flutes.

School officials say the community's outpouring has been overwhelming.

"People are sending checks, in memory of so-and-so, because they loved kids and music," Memorial Principal Stefanie Shames said. "It has been wonderful."

So far, the school off Orange Blossom Trail has cataloged nearly 100 donated instruments and about $11,000, and more contributions are on the way...

Band director Michael Simmons said he expected a few donations but was stunned by the extent of Central Florida's generosity, which he called "a true blessing."

Now Simmons has a more typical problem for a middle-school band teacher: Getting eager novices to focus on the basics.

"We might move slow, but we're going to move right," he told his students. He helped the woodwind players adjust their reeds, showed them how to curl their lower lips and then told them to blow.

A terrific squeak followed.

"You guys just made your first sound," Simmons said. "Congratulations."

The local definition of joy.

Memorial Middle School students learn it's not easy to make music. (ROBERTO GONZALEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / March 5, 2008)

Democrat circular firing squad, Florida style

Nelson: vote again.
Dean: we won't pay for it.
Obama: ban Florida delegates, ignore vote.
Hillary: An individual may contribute a maximum of $2,300 per election (the primary and general are separate elections). Thank you and have a nice day, Florida.

This is the party which brayed the loudest about Theresa LePore and the butterfly ballots, but here they are setting up Florida once again.
Sen. Bill Nelson: Florida ought to have primary do-over
By TAMARA LYTLE
Orlando Sentinel
March 7, 2008
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida's top elected Democrat, threw his weight Thursday behind a new presidential-primary vote in hopes that the state's votes will be counted toward the Democratic presidential nomination...


But Dean stuck to his hard line, appearing on numerous television shows to say Florida has only two options: a do-over contest before the party's deadline of June 10, or asking the convention credentials committee to seat the delegates.

Asked whether the DNC would pay for a do-over — a new primary, mail-in ballot or caucus — Dean said no.

"Of course not," he said on CBS' The Early Show. "We can't afford to do that. That's not our problem. You know, we need our money to win the presidential race."

...But the Obama camp made it clear it would not support seating Florida's delegates based on the Jan. 29 vote.

Hold onto your wallets, Florida. Prepare for the worst.