Florida and Michigan and Super Delegates, Oh My

With the wins posted by Senator Clinton Tuesday night, an opportunity was wasted by Senator Obama to end things now and begin to focus the entire might of the Democratic Primary behind winning in November, now we still have some things to sort out first.

Let me start off by congratulating Senator Clinton on her wins in Rhode Island, Ohio, and the Texas Primary, as Senator Obama did himself in his speech that very night (something she rarely does, one of the many reasons I have lost the feelings I once had for her not very long ago). At worst, she stopped Senator Obama's momentum, at best, perhaps she gained some for herself.

But before we get too carried away with anything, Barack Obama came into last Tuesday's races with a delegate lead of well over 100 and he came out of Tuesday's races with a delegate lead of well over 100. In fact, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram believes that despite losing the popular vote in Texas (by less then 100,000 in a state where almost 3 million voted) he might come out of Texas with more delegates then his primary advisary.

So, sure, Hillary Clinton had a big night, a very important night for her if she wanted to keep her canidacy alive. But that's all she did, in my opinion, was keep her canidacy alive. She didn't become the front runner after that night. She didn't even really gain any ground on the front runner. She just kept from losing any.

What it really means is that it is going to be much harder for either of them to secure the nomination any time soon. This is shaping up to be a race to the very finish folks.

What becomes interesting are the varying factors that can help to decide it. I've spoken in this blog before about the Super Delegates, but we haven't really talked about the Strange Case of Florida and Michigan yet, so what do you say we do that now? Good.

Both Florida and Michigan signed the agreement with the National Democratic Party that they would abide by rules that stated primaries had to be held on or after Feb. 5th (aka Super Tuesday) with the exceptions being Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. However, both moved up their primaries in order to be important in the upcoming election. In punishment, both were stripped of Delegates in the nomination process causing them both to become pointless. The irony of course is that had they stayed in their normal places, both states would have been not only important, but, much like last Tuesday had the potential to be, critical. Instead they risked being a complete non-factor.

Hillary Clinton claims that since she won both of those primaries, the delegates should be counted and given to her. This is simply unfair, however, as she was the only major candidate on Michigan's ballot, and Barack Obama was given no opportunity to campaign in Florida (where Clinton is already well known, but at the time of the Florida primary, Obama was still relatively new to the nation). And with his ability to speak and the wonders he has already accomplished while campaigning, denying him that opportunity in Florida is completely unfair.

But, what it comes down to is that the delegates in Florida and Michigan might be very important in securing the nomination for one candidate or the other, and, after all, it isn't the fault of the voters that their party leaders tried to up the date against the rules. They shouldn't be penalized.

So, the answer on first glance seems obvious. Let's hold new primaries in each of the two states, with both Clinton and Obama given a chance to make their case to the voters. Oh, if only it were that simple. You see, primaries cost tax payers money. Money that tax payers have already spent on primaries in this very election season. Redoing them (while it seems logical) would require repaying for them, and let's face it, the economy ain't that great right now folks. (Thanks a lot, W. And McCain is promising more of the same, I'm just saying.) According to an article on cnn.com, Michigan's redo could cost approximently $10 million and Florida's could cost upwards of $25 million.

Everyone agrees that delegates in these states might have to count. It's the how that is the question and will bear watching as this race continues.