No Re-Vote for Florida and Maybe None for Michigan Too

The various plans kicked around for a re-vote in Florida have all failed:

Last week, the Florida Democratic Party laid out the only existing way that we can comply with D.N.C. Rules – a statewide revote run by the Party – and asked for input.

Thousands of people responded. We spent the weekend reviewing your messages, and while your reasons vary widely, the consensus is clear: Florida doesn’t want to vote again.

So we won’t.

A party-run primary or caucus has been ruled out, and it’s simply not possible for the state to hold another election, even if the party were to pay for it. Republican Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio refuses to even consider that option. Florida is finally moving to paper ballots, which is a good thing, but it means that at least 15 counties do not have the capacity to handle a major election before the June 10th D.N.C. primary deadline.

This doesn’t mean that Democrats are giving up on Florida voters. It means that a solution will have to come from the D.N.C. Rules & Bylaws Committee, which is scheduled to meet again in April.

As a friend used to say, it just gets gooder and gooder. Now it's going to be up to the credentials committee at the convention to decide whether and how the Florida delegates will be handled, and the majority members of that committee will be appointed by the Obama campaign since they will come into the convention with more elected delegates. That should be some fun.

Things aren't going very swimmingly in Michigan, either:

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is reviewing proposed legislation for a possible Michigan re-vote, but there appear to be at least two possible hurdles:

1. The legislation prevents those who've voted in the Republican primary from voting in the re-vote. But Marc Ambinder notes "about 32% of the those who vote in the GOP primary, according to the exit polls, were Democrats or independents. It's a fair bet that many of them were Obama supporters, as he was not on the original Michigan ballot."

2. Ben Smith notes the law setting up the vote "would require a supermajority in the Republican-controlled State Senate, which also includes Obama supporters who are skeptical of a re-vote."

The Dems can't possibly have a convention with only 48 states represented, so something's going to have to give.