Michigan and Florida Settled...For Now

The Michigan and Florida debacle are wrapped up for now. Based on a unanimous vote, the entire Florida delegation will be seated with half of a convention vote. Clinton will get 52.5 delegates to Obama's 33.5. The vote for the Michigan plan was 19 yeas, with 8 no's. Clinton will pick up 69 delegates in Michigan, with Obama netting 59. All in all, a very long day for a reasonable "split the baby" decision that could've been made without all the hoopla.

Lanny Davis Goes Ape Sh*t

From Sam Stein at The Huffington Post:

A brief but spittle-filled shouting match broke out in the halls of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing on Saturday between a committee member and a surrogate for Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Ausman: [My proposal] is very generous, because Obama was initially fighting for a situation where Clinton would net 6 delegates, now it's 19.

Davis: Don't say you're being generous.

Ausman: I can say we're being generous.

Davis: But you're allowed to and I'm allowed to disagree...

Ausman: But I'm the one who's on the petition...

Reporter: Ok ok, why don't we --

Ausman: Are you a representative of Clinton?

Davis: No, I'm actually just a person...

Ausman: Are you a designated representative of Clinton?

Davis: I am not a designated representative.

Ausman: Then why don't we have a designated representative speak for Clinton and you be silent?

I've said before that it wouldn't be over until the "wailing and gnashing of teeth". Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.

Robert Wexler at the RBC Meeting in Washington, DC

With my patience wearing thing, I left the house earlier this morning to run some errands. After dropping off some drycleaning and eating lunch with a very pretty girl, I decided to wash my car.

With the satellite radio tuned to CNN, I caught the passioned speech of Congressman Robert Wexler, who represented the Obama campaign before the RBC today. Some video:



I was very impressed with him, after not having must exposure to him in the past. He's a great speaker, and puts forth a passioned argument. He's dedication to the voters of Florida cannot be questioned, as he has been a champion of voter's right for years. Very impressive.

Smaller Turnout than Expected for Protesters

It appears that there aren't as many Clinton protesters as the 10,000 or so that were expected. Joe Sudbay with AmericaBlog reports.

Walking up to the Marriott, I kept waiting to encounter the huge protest. After all, the protest organizers were predicting a crowd of 10,000 (including the McCain and Huckabee crew), but it's much, much, much smaller than - couple hundred, maybe. (And, maybe the other 9,700 protesters have arrived since I came inside the hotel.)

The committe has called its roll and has a quorum. Howard Dean has just been introduced...

Rolling in His Grave...

I got up on early on a Saturday morning to watch the DNC's Rules and By-laws Committee meet to discuss the fate of the delegates from Michigan and Florida. I could've slept for another couple of hours, and God knows I need the sleep, but I chose to get up and watch this.

Somewhere, my die-hard Republican grandfather (dead 30+ years) is rolling over in his grave.

I'm listening to the event streaming live off of CNN.com because my satellite is out and the people from Dish won't be out to fix it until early next week. Which is good enough, considering I have some reading I would like to get done while my significant other goes home to see some family.

Someone just struck a gavel and announced 5 minutes to post-time. The link is up at

http://www.cnn.com/video/live/live.html?stream=stream2

DavidKC at DailyKos has also organized an open thread for the event.

The meeting is getting ready to start. I'll check in later.

Saturday's DNC Rules Committee Meeting

Being the dork I am, I will be spending part of this Saturday watching the DNC Rules Committee meeting in Washington, DC. The meeting will be of interest to many following the Democratic Primary cycle, as this meeting may ultimately decide the fate of the delegates from Michigan and Florida.

Although I'll be watching it at home, tickets to the actual event were snapped up as fast as those at a Rolling Stones concert.

It promises to be the highest-profile gathering of Democratic heavyweights until the summer nominating convention – and shaping up to be a harder ticket to come by: this Saturday’s Washington meeting to debate the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations is officially the toughest ticket in town.

The members of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee – the panel weighing how both states should be represented at the convention in Denver – will meet very publicly, at a hotel site ringed with protestors and satellite trucks. Inside, they’ll be joined by a swarm of political journalists – and a few rank-and-file Democrats. Only about 300 people – including RBC members, press and public — will be allowed inside.

But hundreds of Democrats eager for a front-row seat to history found themselves out of luck today, as the party’s online registration system for the spots available to the public was overwhelmed at 10 a.m. ET, when it opened. All available seats were claimed in about a minute.

The Clinton campaign is supposedly bussing in supporters to protest the event, while the Obama campaign is asking that its supporters participate in a voter registration drive instead. I'll be watching from the comfort of home.