Opinion: Fight or not? Hillary Clinton supporters are split
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Now that the Democrats have voted on seating the disputed delegations from Florida and Michigan (all the delegates get to come, but they only get half a vote each), some of Hillary Clinton‘s highest-profile supporters are divided over what should happen next.
You’ll recall that those two states broke party rules by moving their primaries ahead of the dates on the Democrats’ schedule. Primary voters in Michigan and Florida were told that their votes would not count, and Democratic candidates did not campaign in either state. In Michigan, Clinton’s was the only name on the ballot; the other choice was ‘uncommitted.’
Top adviser Harold Ickes, a member of the rules committee, appeared on CNN’s ‘Late Edition’ Sunday and reiterated his threat to take the matter to the party’s credentials committee at the convention in August. He and other Clinton backers are upset that the committee allocated 69 of the Michigan votes to their candidate and 59 to Barack Obama, who was not on the ballot. (By their count, Clinton should have gotten 73 delegates and ‘uncommitted’ 55.)
He did acknowledge that after the final three primaries -- today’s in Puerto Rico and Tuesday’s in South Dakota and Montana -- Obama could be in a position ...
... to claim the votes needed to capture the nomination. Based on the current delegate math (which takes into account the rules committee decision Saturday on the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates), that figure is 2,118.
But, he added, ‘in our view, the final number for the nomination will not be fixed until Michigan is ultimately resolved.’
Another Clinton adviser, Mandy Grunwald, argued on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ ‘that in the way delegates were apportioned by the rules committee yesterday, they broke their own rules. And that’s a terrible precedent. That’s a terrible precedent. That’s why our campaign has said we will consider taking this fight to the convention.’
‘Just to explain -- they took the votes, the delegates, and apportioned them the way they chose,’ she said. ‘It had nothing to do with the way votes were made in Michigan. That is an arbitrary ruling that simply violates the rules of our party.’
But appearing on the same program, one of Clinton’s most prominent supporters seemed to back away from a battle. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell started his comments by noting, ‘I’m not inside the campaign mechanism, but I believe she’ll do the right thing for America.’
‘I don’t think we’re going to fight this at the convention, because even were we to win it, unless it’s going to change enough delegates for Sen. Clinton to get the nomination, then it would be a fight that would have no purpose,’ he said.
That view was bolstered by an Obama supporter, Sen. Claire McCaskill, who also appeared on CBS. Asked about a fight over credentials, she said: ‘I think we all want to believe that will not happen. And I think Sen. Clinton will do the right thing.’
-- Leslie Hoffecker