Harold Ickes' parting shot suggests more Democratic turmoil

Maybe it will prove an idle threat.

But as the Democratic rules committee ended its lengthy meeting today in Washington today with a decision on the Michigan primary that left Hillary Clinton's campaign irate, the words from one of her chief strategists have to haunt party leaders striving for elusive unity.

"Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee," Harold Ickes said.

The rules panel, which Ickes serves on, achieved its goal of resolving one of the party's two disputed primaries -- the Florida contest -- in a way that Ickes and other Clinton loyalists indicated they could live with. And combined with the more contentious action on the Michigan vote, the result was to put Barack Obama on the cusp of securing the number of convention delegates needed to soon declare himself the presidential nominee-in-waiting.

But Ickes' admonition on Michigan means that the Clinton camp has not signed off on the new "magic" number: 2,118 delegates. And that means any claim by Obama to be the presumptive nominee will carry an asterisk -- perhaps all the way to the late-August convention in Denver.

Indeed, along with Ickes' words, the chants of "Denver, Denver" by disgruntled Clinton supporters as the rules committee gathering broke up must be uneasily echoing in the ears of other Democrats.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

For Barack Obama, the latest church furor proves enough

Barack Obama is in the market for a new church.

Earlier this afternoon -- probably not coincidentally on the weekend and at a time when most of the political press was focused on the Democratic Party's rules committee meeting in Washington -- word surfaced and his campaign confirmed that Obama would no longer be a parishioner at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side.

As the Chicago Tribune's John McCormick writes, the church was Obama's "longtime religious home," but it had emerged as "a place that has triggered repeated controversies during his presidential bid."

The first were sparked by the church's former pastor -- once a close Obama associate -- the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr . The latest uproar was sparked by Catholic priest Michael Pfleger, who, in a guest sermon last Sunday, egregiously mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The rest of McCormick's report can be read here.

-- Don Frederick

Michigan and Florida voters participated in "events," not primaries

As secretary of the Democratic National Committee, Alice Travis Germond will call the roll of states later this year when the party nominates its presidential ticket at its convention in Denver. She took note of that today as a member of the party rules committee that met in Washington to try to figure out if -- and to what degree -- the Michigan and Florida delegations would be part of that confab.

Germond noted early during the panel's deliberations that in her secretary's role, she looked forward to including the two states as she works her way through the roll call. But she was very careful with her language in discussing the dispute over the nomination contests that Michigan and Florida conducted in violation of DNC rules.

Germond -- for many years a key behind-the-scenes player in California's Democratic Party before she moved East -- seemed loath to use the term "primary."

Her favored term for the votes: "events" (which drew a chuckle from the committee's audience the first time she used it).

No doubt such attention to detail is crucial to her job, which includes certifying all convention delegates and vote counts.

-- Don Frederick

Barack Obama, stumping in S.D., casts Hillary Clinton as a team player

Barack Obama not only spent today far, far away from the trench warfare being waged in Washington over whether -- and in what proportion -- to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Democratic National Convention later this year, he was doing his best to stay above the fray.

The Times' Michael Finnegan reports that as Obama campaigned in South Dakota in advance of the state's Tuesday primary, he had nothing but kind words for Hillary Clinton, praising her for running a "magnificent race" in their marathon battle for the Democratic presidential nod.

"I know that some Democrats are worried that, well, this campaign went on a long time, and maybe you can't bring the party together; the Clinton supporters and the Obama supporters, they're going after each other," Obama told a few thousand people gathered at a rodeo fairgrounds in Rapid City.

"Let me tell you something. First of all, we're going to come together, because Sen. Clinton is an outstanding public servant. She has run a magnificent race. And she is going to be working on behalf of the Democratic Party, as I will be."

Spoken like the presumptive nominee that he and his camp are anticipating he soon will be -- a designation that Clinton and her forces continue to do their best to forestall.

-- Don Frederick

Michigan's Carl Levin is still upset about Iowa and New Hampshire

As participants in today's Democratic rules committee meeting blew through a normal lunch hour -- and avoided venturing outside into a nasty thunderstorm that swept through Washington -- it became evident that the difficulties posed by the unsanctioned Florida and Michigan primaries were not equal.

A consensus seemed likely on how to apportion delegates from Florida, based on a proposal offered by the Barack Obama campaign. But how to deal with Michigan -- where only Hillary Clinton, among the major Democratic presidential contenders, was even on the ballot -- emerged as a much stickier proposition.

Several top Michigan Democrats, including Sen. Carl Levin (at left), repeatedly referred to the contest in their state as a "flawed primary" in comments to the committee.

But Levin, passionately, also sought to return the debate to first principles -- whether Iowa and New Hampshire should continue to enjoy special status in picking presidential nominees.

Levin noted that for him, not only was that the root of Michigan's decision to conduct its primary on Jan. 15, earlier than national party rules allowed, but it remained the most flawed aspect of the nomination process.

His voice rising as he made this point, Levin told his party colleagues: "No state should have the right to go first" every campaign. "No state."

A few moments later, he decried what he termed the "God-given right to go first" that Iowa and New Hampshire insist upon every four years.

Regardless of how the immediate dispute plays out, Levin can be counted on to keep pushing -- perhaps at this year's convention, certainly beyond -- for a dramatic reshaping of the primary calendar. And that will remain worth watching.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press

Hillary Clinton's brother is one unhappy camper

While Democratic honchos sought today to untangle the problems caused by the rogue Florida and Michigan primaries, the party was in danger of losing a high-profile vote -- that of Tony Rodham Hugh Rodham, the brother of Hillary Clinton.

[UPDATE: Correction from the original post; our reporter got it right, but we wrote Hugh when we meant Tony. Many, many apologies. And our thanks to readers who caught our error].

The Times' Faye Fiore found Rodham sitting in an Irish-themed bar across the street from the Washington hotel where the Democratic rules committee was grappling with the mess. He was drinking a pint ... and fuming.

“I’m just here to make sure Americans are represented by one vote for every person," he said, parroting the Clinton line that the results in the two states should be reflected in their totality at the Democratic convention.

With the Democratic National Committee likely to settle on, at some unknown point, a different solution that results in fewer delegates for Clinton, Rodham opined: "What the DNC and (Chairman) Howard Dean are doing is an absolute disgrace.”

The upshot?

Rodham, a self-described “yellow dog Democrat all my life,” is unsure who he would support in November if Clinton is not the party's standard bearer.

"If my sister doesn’t end up with the nomination, I gotta take a look at who I’m gonna vote for,” he said.

Horrors.

Does that mean, Fiore asked, Rodham would vote for Republican John McCain?

“I didn’t say that. It could be Bob Barr,” he said, referring to the Libertarian presidential candidate who, as a House member from Georgia, was a prime player in the impeachment of Rodham's brother-in-law, Bill Clinton).

With that, Rodham paid his check and gathered his family: his son (the grandson of California Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose daughter, Nicole, was once married to Rodham), his baby by his second marriage, asleep in a stroller, and his pregnant wife. They headed back ...

Ticket Notice: Sunday talk show guests

ABC's "This Week": Former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan (pictured) and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe. Round-table with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, the New York Times' David Brooks, Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum and commentator George Will.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt": Ralph Reed, Republican strategist and former director of the Christian Coalition.

CBS' "Face the Nation": Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

CNN's "Late Edition": Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez and Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. Round-table discussion with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Fareed Zakaria and Jeffrey Toobin.

CNN's "Reliable Sources": National Review's David Frum, ABC's Martha Raddatz, former President Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, Hollywood Reporter's Ray Richmond, former New York Times Hollywood correspondent Sharon Waxman and CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

C-SPAN's "Newsmakers": Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, interviewed by AP's Alan Zibel and Congressional Quarterly's Benton Ives.

"FOX News Sunday": Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's communication director, and David Bonior, spokesman for Barack Obama and former Michigan congressman. Power Player of the Week is Brendan Sullivan, executive director of Headfirst. Panel discussion with Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine, Byron York of the National Review and Juan Williams of National Public Radio.

MSNBC's "Chris Matthews Show": Richard Stengel, editor of Time magazine; Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Howard Fineman of Newsweek; Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News.

MSNBC's Tim Russert: Charles Osgood, author of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House: Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities from the Presidential Campaign Trail," and presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

NBC's "Meet the Press": McClellan.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Rep. Wexler offers Barack Obama's "major concession" on Florida

What had been a fairly uneventful debate before the Democratic National Committee's rules committee on the Michigan/Florida primary imbroglio finally was enlivened when fiery Rep. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton appeared on behalf of Barack Obama.

His appearance also produced the proceeding's most laughably arcane exchange (and believe us, much of the discussion during the morning session only could be appreciated by lawyers).

Wexler, in his typically high-decibel fashion, made the case for allowing the Florida delegation to be seated at half-strength at the party's August convention in Denver. He presented that as a "major concession" by Obama because that would mean a delegate pickup for Hillary Clinton, who won a primary that the party had ruled would not count for anything.

Of course, what Wexler pushed for falls 50% short of what the Clinton forces want -- the seating of a FULL Florida delegation, which would give her even more delegates.

Two of the Clinton stalwarts on the rules panel, Harold Ickes and Tina Flournoy, sought in questions to puncture Wexler's "major concession" stance, and the result was a clear demonstration of the tensions between the two camps that is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.

And then there was that moment of arcana.

Ickes, with a sly smile of his face indicating that he believed he was about to ensnare Wexler, asked the congressman his position on "the concept of fair reflection."

Wexler, no doubt speaking the thoughts of many, replied with his own smile that Ickes would have to "educate me" on that concept.

Ickes thankfully took a pass.

-- Don Frederick

Howard Dean replays the 2000 election's legal fight

Even as Democratic leaders sat down in a Washington hotel this morning to try to resolve their dispute over primaries in Michigan and Florida, the head of the party took a swipe at the resolution of another fight over counting votes -- the one that decided the 2000 general election.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, in remarks opening the much-anticipated rules committee meeting, invoked the name of Al Gore, the party's nominee eight years ago. And in doing so, he asserted that the presidency had been "snatched from" Gore by "five intellectually bankrupt justices."

So much for the recent recommendation from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia -- one of those who was part of the 5-4 ruling that led to George W. Bush becoming president -- that folks "get over" what happened and that the debate about it is "so old now."

Dean brought up Gore's name in telling an anecdote about his own disillusionment, as a presidential candidate in 2004, with the party he now hopes will unite after dealing with the Florida/Michigan mess and, at some point, settling on a nominee for this year.

Dean told of angrily pacing in a hotel room one night in Wisconsin -- where an impending primary loss would extinguish what had once been his front-running candidacy -- and talking with Gore on the telephone. For undisclosed reasons, he was venting, wondering why he should stay a Democrat and asking what the party had done for him.

Gore, according to Dean, finally cooled him down by saying, "This is not about you, it's about your country."

Who knows, more stories like this one -- and continued squabbling ...

Barack Obama: Mt. Rushmore too small for my ears

Just in time for family vacation season, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have done their parts to spur traffic at South Dakota's prime (only?) tourist attraction, high gasoline prices notwithstanding.

Clinton, at the onset of a campaign swing through the state earlier this week, added an impromptu stop at Mt. Rushmore on Wednesday morning. (For her trouble, the cover of the next day's New York Post featured a picture of her at the monument with the headline: "Rock Bottom.")

Not to be one-upped in the hearts and minds of South Dakotans who will cast primary ballots next Tuesday, Obama took an unscheduled nighttime trip to the sculpture (which already attracts about 2 million visitors annually) on Friday.

"There's something about seeing it at night," Obama said after gazing several minutes at the landmark, aglow in floodlights.

Clinton, during her visit with reporters in tow, was asked a couple of dumb questions and provided a rather snappish (but, to us, perfectly understandable) rejoinder.

Obama got asked the same dumb question -- Could he picture himself up there? -- and offered a joking response, according to The Times' Michael Finnegan:

"I don't think my ears would fit," Obama said. "There's just only so much rock up there."

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Associated Press