Michigan and Florida Democrat Delegates Still in Question

• In 2007 Florida and Michigan made the decision to move up the dates of their 2008 Presidential Primaries. As a result, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) stripped both states of their delegates to the national convention and prompted the candidates to sign a pledge not to campaign or participate in primaries not already authorized by the DNC to occur prior to February 5, 2008.
• The decision by the DNC to strip Florida and Michigan of their delegates led to a lawsuit being filed in October of 2007 by Florida's leaders in Congress accusing the DNC and state officials of "unconstitutional and "wholesale disenfranchisement" of Florida's 4 million Democratic voters." The lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful.
• In Michigan the Democrat candidates with the exception of Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Mike Gravel, and Dennis Kucinich withdrew their names from the ballot while in Florida all names still appeared. This left Michigan voters without a choice to vote for Barack Obama or John Edwards.
• At Michigan's January 15, 2008 Democratic primary Hillary Clinton received 55% of the vote. 40% voted uncommitted, 4% voted for Dennis Kucinich and 1% voted for Chris Dodd.
• Fourteen days later at the Florida primary Hillary Clinton came in first again with 50% of the vote compared to Barack Obama at 33%, John Edwards at 14% and Dennis Kucinich at 1%.
• Hillary Clinton was the only candidate to break the pledge. During a campaign stop in Florida on January 29, 2008 she told the crowd "I promise you I will do everything I can that not only Florida's Democrats get seated but that Florida is in the winning column for the Democrats in November 2008."
• Her campaign is then reported to have asked the DNC to reinstate the Florida and Michigan delegates. This request was countered by a proposal from the DNC to hold caucuses in both states in May.
• Unknown is who would bear the cost of the caucuses considering both states already held Democratic primaries. Additionally, Florida and Michigan are not traditionally caucus states and would have to educate voters on the caucus process.
• Florida lawmakers have declined the caucus offer however, this issue appears to be far from over. Just this morning on CNN Howard Dean, Chairman of the DNC, said if there is not a clear front runner in the delegate count by April the two candidates will have to come to some kind of an agreement. Obviously if Michigan's 128 pledged delegates and Florida's 185 pledged delegates were awarded to Hillary Clinton this would give here the lead in the delegate count.

Sources:

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/080131nj1.htm

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106879.html

Michigan and Florida Delegates