Monday, October 29, 2007

Howard Dean : "There are ways of working this out"

Good. Fix this, please.


Glimmers of hope from Howard Dean at a stop in Oakland County last night, but in reality, at this point, it seems that all of this fighting over the Michigan primary may be for naught anyway.


With Iowa moving up to January 3rd, and New Hampshire soon to follow to the 8th, the media narrative has this over and done before we can even take our shot on the 15th. If that is the case, perhaps Democrats all over the country can stop ripping each other apart and come to the acceptance that, at least this time around, Iowa and New Hampshire will once again determine our nominee, and there isn't anything we can do about that except start to heal the damage out here.


Damage has been done. Dean says he "understands the point" that Michigan and Florida are trying to make by moving their dates. Even if that is true, does he understand the fallout that is happening amongst the party faithful when candidates seemingly shun those states?


We can debate the strategy of the "rule breaking" all we want, the sad fact is you don't see the Republicans punishing the voters of either state in the way that the Democrats are. Howard calls this a "minor internal fight", but out here in the real world, you have read the comments on the blogs or perhaps talked with grassroots activists who are dispirited, deflated, and downright angry about what is going on.


It seemingly is a momentum killer. Democrats in Michigan and Florida, two very important states in the national election, will be months behind in trying to build the groundswell it takes to get people excited about working in the election and/or donating money.


Michigan, you are not alone. Florida "feels your pain" too- this past weekend, they held their Democratic convention in Orlando, and the lack of the big names is having an impact there also. Ominous rumblings from the dejected boots on the ground...


"This would be the least exciting (convention) in 30 years, the least encouraging," said a noticeably deflated, long-time Democratic conventioneer Alice Long Owens of St. Augustine, Florida.


... to polls showing that we are losing the independent vote...


The state's top elected Democrat, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, touted his recent lawsuit against "political party bosses in Washington" for putting in place rules that do not permit campaigning in Florida but do allow fund-raising.


He cited a new Quinnipiac University poll showing that 22 percent of independent voters were less likely to vote for a Democrat in November 2008 because of the candidate boycott.


"The delegate ban may be hurting our own presidential candidates," Nelson said.


And one joke hit home in a big, scary way-


Even the George Bush impersonator hired to entertain about 2,000 activists gathered at Walt Disney World's Yacht Club resort noticed the absence of candidates.


"What can it cost you, a couple hundred votes?" he joked. "And when did a couple hundred votes ever make a difference?"


Ouch. Bad memories. But a good point.


more over the flip...
Dean has been in Michigan the past few days, probably getting an earful about the primary debate, and the response in the title up above was the most positive thing he said- all the other statements coming from him and the major players in this episode seem to be a matter of passing the buck at this point. Head agitator Carl Levin had this to say-


"I'm glad he thinks there are ways to work this out," Levin said in a written statement. "We look forward to hearing what he has in mind to end New Hampshire's self-appointed dominance in this process and give other states equal access to our candidates."


Levin then punted the ultimate decision to Granholm, who, if I remember correctly, had to have her arm twisted to go along with this in the first place. She is still calling for a primary on the 15th, as is Mark Brewer, at last report. Levin is now suggesting that we should have caucuses on the 8th, the same day as New Hampshire, which only adds to the confusion.


Will any of it matter if the candidates don't show up to campaign? This "pledge" did the most damage, even though the contenders are finding subtle ways around it, such as Richardson and Kucinich appearing at the Arab-American National Leadership Conference in Dearborn over the weekend. The front-runners were scared of repercussions.


While they were granted waivers by the national Democratic Party to appear in Michigan, which has run afoul of national party rules by scheduling a Jan. 15 primary, the candidates were concerned that coming here would send the wrong message to Democrats beyond Michigan.


It shouldn't be that way, and the DNC can help with that, but chooses not to. Dean pleads ignorance on the pledge and passes he responsibility of that decision on to the campaigns. Didn't he have any influence to stop that from happening?


Dean said he wanted to impress on Michigan Democrats that the national party had no role in promoting the anti-campaigning pledge demanded by the four approved early states.


"We had no part in that, and frankly we were surprised by it," Dean said.


Asked if the candidates should be campaigning in Michigan, Dean said that was an issue for the campaigns to decide.


Maybe so, but it seems unlikely that they would have shunned the voters of Michigan and Florida all on their own. Pulling the names off the primary ballot was another blow that didn't have to happen here in Michigan- due to the law, it didn't happen in Florida. We got an extra slap in the face.


Dean and Brewer are still talking to resolve this dispute. According to the Freep, both parties have to let the SOS know by Nov. 14th the official answer.


Which brings us back to the Republicans- they are unlikely to change the date, unless the fear of Democratic tampering in their primary gets the best of them. This also throws out the idea of putting any ballot measures on the 15th- with a lack of Democratic turnout, we don't want to be deciding issues like sales taxes or term limits at that point.


All will be settled in the next few weeks; let's hope that they don't dig this hole any deeper with whatever solution they come up with.


Chances are that as the months go by and we get deeper into the election season, this will all be forgotten as we rally to support our candidates, stop "Perpetual War" Rudy, and work to toss out the rest of the Bush Republicans. But due to the lack of leadership and control coming out the DNC, we are starting from behind in two very important states, and now we have to make up for lost time.


We can, and will, as long as this gets fixed soon. Make it better, guys.