Sen. Bill Nelson: "Fix Our Mess and Pay For It Too"

Florida Senator Bill Nelson is not happy with the delegate mess in his state and he wants to DNC to fix the problem and pay for it too:

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) warned the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday that it is facing the “biggest train wreck you’ve ever seen” if a standoff is not resolved over his state’s pledged delegates to the party’s presidential nominating convention.

Nelson sent a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean Thursday asking the committee to either accept the Jan. 29 results of the primary election or pay for a redo of the elections, which could cost in the range of $20 million. He sent the letter after Dean did not return his telephone call Wednesday.

“If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?” Nelson told reporters Thursday. “It’s in everybody’s interest to find a solution to this problem.”

However, earlier in the day, Dean said the party would not pay for any do-over.

“We can’t afford to do that,” Dean stated on CBS’s “Early Show.” “That’s not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race.”

It was the Florida Democratic Party that chose to defy the national party and move their primary up to what has since proved to be a meaningless date. If anyone should be shelling out the big bucks, it's Florida Democrats, and not the taxpayers of the state or the national party. They knew the rules and broke them - it'a that simple.