This is the third week in a row that I have written a political commentary on Friday. Maybe it’s a trend.
This week I want to talk about the Michigan and Florida primaries, how the Democrat party has handled the controversy and the basic difference between the parties it illustrates.
To review the dispute as I understand it: Florida and Michigan violated party rules by moving their primaries to January in front of New Hampshire and Iowa. The Democrat National Committee (DNC) had warned them in advance that if they moved their primary up their delegates would not be seated. Both States moved their primaries anyway and the DNC said their delegates would not be seated. To show solidarity all of the candidates agreed not to campaign or participate in the election in either State. Now we come to an area where there is a dispute. Somehow Clinton got her name on the ballot in Michigan and Obama did not.
None of this would have been important if the primaries had gone as usual and a clear winner had emerged. But Obama surged and Clinton had to play catch-up and now the primary season is drawing to a close and what to do about these delegates has become critically important.
Now the differences between the parties becomes apparent. The Democrat party leaders are all talking about fairness and making every vote count and are willing to change their rules to make it “fair.” While in fact they are trying to tip the balance in their favor. Clinton wants to seat the delegations as elected or have a re-vote, Obama wants to have caucuses or not seat the delegates.
Republicans on the other hand, as was obvious in the Florida recount in 2000, are much more rule based. The conservative idea is that we should attempt to build fairness into the system when we design it but not change the rules in mid game. Even thinking about changing the rules after the fact reduces confidence in the system, makes everybody suspicious and ready to game the system.
Having said all of the above. Howard Dean and the DNC made a big mistake when they punished the voters in Florida and Michigan for the mistake of their leaders who voted for the primary date changes. But don’t change the rules now. Whatever you do will make somebody angry and will in the long run undermine fairness and confidence in the system. So my advice is don’t seat the disputed delegates and let the chips fall where they may. Do it in order to save your party. Then fire Howard Dean and make up better rules for the next election cycle.