The Duplicitous Hillary

Back in 2007 Hillary Clinton signed an agreement with the DNC that would bar any campaigning in states which moved their primaries ahead of the date specified by the DNC, and would also bar the seating of any delegates from those states which violated the DNC rule. After the state parties in Michigan and Florida elected to move their primaries up and violate the rules, all of the Dem candidates complied with the DNC and did not campaign in those states, and in the case of Barack Obama, he even pulled his name off the ballot in Michigan (foolish move, as it turns out).

Now, with the Clinton campaign in desperate straits, that agreement between her and the DNC is but a distant memory and she wants those delegates:

On a "do-over" in Florida and Michigan, which held nominating contests that broke Democratic Party rules

I would not accept a caucus. I think that would be a great disservice to the 2 million people who turned out and voted. I think that they want their votes counted. And you know a lot of people would be disenfranchised because of the timing and whatever the particular rules were. This is really going to be a serious challenge for the Democratic Party because the voters in Michigan and Florida are the ones being hurt, and certainly with respect to Florida the Democrats were dragged into doing what they did by a Republican governor and a Republican Legislature. They didn't have any choice whatsoever. And I don't think that there should be any do-over or any kind of a second run in Florida. I think Florida should be seated.

She won't accept a caucus because Obama has shown tremendous strength in caucuses and would probably beat her handily. You'll notice that she's trying to stop a do-over in Florida, because all candidates appeared on the ballot and she won big. She undoubtedly thinks she can make that argument with little political risk. At this point she hasn't tried to stop a do-over in Michigan (other than her opposition to a caucus) because the obvious unfairness of the contest in that state would be hard to justify.

The DNC has stood firm, much to the credit of Howard Dean (I never thought I'd write that). He's refusing to pay for new elections and has shown no inclination to waive the party rules that put the Dems in this position. It's now up to the states to offer a plan to fix the problem, but I doubt that any plan will be satisfactory to both campaigns.