Another Clinton Argument…

I’ve been thinking about the argument in the Clinton camp that not seating the delegates from Florida would push voters away from the Democratic party. Florida being denied their delegates, so the argument goes, is blatantly unfair because the people who made the choice to push the primary date up in violation of DNC rules were Republicans.

So can anyone else see where I’m going with this? If those delegates are not seated, would it not make some sense for the Democrats to make hay with it? Point out to Democratic party members in the state that it was not the DNC which caused their problems, but the Republicans who violated express DNC rules.

Now, you can argue all day whether it’s fair to the voters of Florida to have their votes not counted (it isn’t) or whether the votes that they did cast were representative of the results of a more normal primary in which the candidates campaigned in the state (it isn’t). The best solution for all concerned would have been a re-vote, which apparently even had the support of major fund raisers who would have borne some or all of the cost of the second primary. But of course, that didn’t happen.

But to me, the idea that not counting the FL delegates necessarily means a backlash against the Democratic party is the same as implying that loyal Democrats and those Independents who are tired of Bush policies who opted for Senator Clinton will immediately bolt and vote for John McCain just because it’s Obama and not Clinton at the top of the ticket.

That’s not to say there aren’t some who will bolt from either camp to McCain if the other wins (heck, I’ve as much as said I find Clinton so odious I can’t honestly say I’m sure McCain would be the worse choice between the two), or that there may not be some people out there who could never bring themselves to vote for a black man (or a woman) and would thus be lost to this candidate or that.

But the idea that California is suddenly going to become a red state, just because Senator Clinton is not the nominee is ludicrous.

And the idea that the backlash in Florida couldn’t be turned into even more anger at the Republicans by the Democrats is similarly ludicrous.

Liam.