Black Box Report

Like children, Florida and Michigan broke the rules of the house and threw tantrums about it, and DNC Poppa Howard Dean grounded them both. But they can't stay grounded if everyone is to attend the family reunion at the national convention in Denver. So what to do?

We're in the Democratic sandbox again, with the kiddies wrestling over the toys and their National Committee nannies telling them to play nice and follow the rules.

But Florida (Republican) Governor Charlie Krist and Michigan's Jennifer Granholm are being soccer moms asking for the scores to count, even if their little angels were a bit out of bounds. The Obamas are yelling foul, and the Clintons are in cheerleading mode.
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Now that Florida and Michigan have smashed their primary playthings, do we buy them new ones or send them to their rooms without dinner? What's the best way to teach them to share with others?

Howard Dean has finally given the kids an ultimatum: Hold a re-vote or let the DNC's credentials committee decide what to do with the delegates. An option Team Clinton won't like too much:

Howard Dean will not bend the party rules to grandfather in the disputed delegates from Michigan and Florida, the Democratic party chairman said in a statement today.

Instead, he put the state parties on notice: either they can wait and allow the credentials committee to decide whether to seat their delegates, or submit to a re-vote sanctioned under DNC rules. "We look forward to receiving their proposals should they decide to submit new delegate selection plans and will review those plans at that time," he said in the statement.

"Everyone seems to be asking what the DNC will do," a Democrat close to Dean said. "But the question is: what will the state parties do."

Dean's statement implies that he has no intention of changing the rules to accommodate any solution proposed by the candidates or the state parties. There has been some suggestion that the two remaining presidential candidates might try to broker a deal among themselves. His line in the sand narrows the options for Hillary Clinton's campaign because it is unlikely that a credentials committee would endorse a delegation congenial to her mathematical interests.

So it's looking like we'll get a couple of do-overs, but who will pay for them. The public? The DNC? The candidates? And will they be primaries, or caucuses?

The Florida Dems, especially, are in a pickle. A caucus would not only be expensive but…(would) exclude its large contingent of military members serving overseas - even in combat zones. But it's a mess of their own making.

And while the details get worked out, Democrats form the all-too familiar circular firing squad:

If the Democrats don’t lose this election, it won’t be for a lack of trying.
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The other problem, though, stems from infighting and a lack of party discipline that resulted in what seems in retrospect to be a very boneheaded maneuver; the decision not to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan. To be fair, all parties are at fault here. The state party establishments are at fault for deciding not to play by the rules. The national party establishment failed because they did not come to a more amenable solution; the DNC should have worked around the clock with all parties involved until they had a firm and fair solution before the primaries actually began. And the candidates themselves failed to a degree by standing by and letting it happen. Here it’s difficult not to fault Clinton more than the rest of her competitors at the time as it would be she who would attempt to then use the situation for her own political gain under the guise of seeing Democracy’s work done.

To be fair, it wouldn't be a Democratic contest without some sibling squabbling and inter-party chaos.