Dem lawyers say seat half of Michigan and Florida delegates

NY Times:

Democratic Party lawyers have determined that no more than half the delegates from Florida and Michigan can be seated at the party’s August convention, dealing a blow to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s efforts to seat the full delegations from those states.

The rules committee of the Democratic National Committee meets on Saturday to determine whether to seat the delegates from these states, which were penalized for holding early primaries.

In asking that the full delegations from these states be seated, Mrs. Clinton hopes to narrow Senator Barack Obama’s delegate edge and make the case that by including the votes from these states, she will have more of the popular vote in the nominating contests, an assertion that has come under some dispute. But the legal analysis, based on party rules and contained in a 38-page memo to the committee, says the committee can either seat only 50 percent of the delegates or seat them all but give them only half a vote, which amounts to the same thing.

...


I think that is the most she could have realistically expected. It is essentially the same "punishment" as the Republicans imposed. She can still make her argument on the popular vote and in fact this strengthens that argument by legitimizing the delegates.

While the Times suggest she has lost something, and she may feel that way to, it seems clear to me she is better off than she was when none of their delegates would be seated. It just may not be enough to make up for her losses elsewhere.

She is going to have a strong argument to take to the convention. Whether it will be strong enough to overcome some of the bias toward Obama is unknown but her chances continue to be slender to remote. That is no reason to quit in my opinion. Obama's gaffarama continues and some of them may gain traction. He is not looking smart.

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