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Who will blink first?
25/03/2008 13:50 - (SA)
Washington - As they fight for every precious delegate, White House hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are trading shots on how to resolve the dilemma of Michigan and Florida, barred from the Democratic Party's nominating race.
"It's a game of political chicken," said University of Michigan professor Mike Traugott, adding that neither candidate wanted to be the first to give in.
Florida and Michigan were punished for violating Democratic Party rules by holding their primaries too early, and the latest attempts to get their delegates to the party's August nominating contest in Denver have failed.
Michigan's state legislature adjourned on Thursday without passing a bill to schedule a new primary by June 3 deadline set by the Democratic National Committee, and last week Florida balked at holding a new vote.
Voters 'disenfranchised'
But Clinton, who won both the voided January primaries, has argued the Democratic voters of Florida and Michigan should not be disenfranchised.
"It's really important that we try to get as many people here to participate in this important primary election," Clinton told reporters in Indiana, a day after lobbying lawmakers in Michigan to organise a new primary.
"I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee."
Obama, who is currently ahead in the all-important delegate stakes after a series of wins in the nation's primaries, appears to be playing for time as he seeks the Democratic nomination for the November presidential elections against John McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee.
"Senator Clinton, I have to say on this, has been completely disingenuous," Obama told CNN, saying she had initially supported the party's ruling.
"Then as soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospect of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there."
Fair solution
Obama's campaign spokesperson Bill Burton said: "We support a fair solution that allows Michigan Democrats to participate at our national convention this summer, and we look forward to working with the Michigan Democratic Party and the DNC to achieve that goal."
According to the latest estimates, the former first lady is trailing Obama in the delegate count with 1 493 to his 1 628. But both are still a long way from the 2 025 needed to secure the nomination.
In normal times, Florida has 185 delegates and Michigan has 128, for a combined total of 313 pledged delegates at the convention, not including additional super delegates.
Clinton is banking on repeating her January wins in the states' primaries to help narrow the gap with the Illinois senator.
But the two states have ruled out new votes, leaving the Democratic Party and its brawling candidates to sort it out, said Michigan State Senator Michelle McManus, chairperson of the campaigns and election oversight committee.
"We had a primary, and unfortunately the Democrats choose not to participate. The Republicans did, and John McCain has said he'll seat all the Michigan delegates," she told AFP.
"They can go have a caucus. This is their issue to resolve, it is not an issue for the Michigan legislature."
'Serious negotiations'
The stalemate has led supporters on both sides to try to find an acceptable compromise.
"It will get down to serious negotiations about this, and then it will turn on whether or not Hillary Clinton wants to make a concession," said Traugott.
"The real issue here is that Obama has a lead in the delegates that she has to cut into and overcome ... so the only opportunity she has is for a re-vote. He doesn't really have an incentive to go along with this."
Obama supporter Chris Dodd suggested splitting the Michigan delegates 50-50 as the only fair solution given that Obama's name didn't even figure on the state's ballot.
A Clinton backer proposed that half of the Florida delegates should be allocated based on results of the January 29 primary, and the other half on other criteria such as the national results.
Whatever the outcome, any solution would have to be approved by a special party appeals committee whose members will be chosen in a series of upcoming votes lasting until June.
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