Fla., Mich. aren't out of convention yet
States could still hold caucuses, add delegates
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published February 16, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Delegates from Florida and Michigan currently have no reason to be in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, but officials putting on the August event say they'll be accommodated if their status changes.
According to Democratic National Convention Committee officials, both state parties could agree to hold caucuses at any point between now and June 3. If they were to do that, their delegates would all be seated immediately and, in fact, the states could qualify for bonus delegates.
That's because the DNC set up a bonus schedule for any state that didn't move up their primary or caucus schedule. That bonus can add as much as 30 percent to the delegate total. There are 10 states or provinces that got bonus delegates, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Indiana.
Florida and Michigan both moved up their elections ahead of the window set by the DNC despite warnings from Chairman Howard Dean that doing so would mean their delegates won't be seated at the convention. Hillary Clinton eventually won uncontested in Michigan and she won in Florida as well - though neither she nor Barack Obama visited or campaigned in either state prior to those primaries.
Ironically, both states would have had a big say in the process if they'd stuck to their original schedules. Michigan used to hold its primary on Feb. 7 and Florida would have been March 9.
Michigan would have had 156 delegates at stake and Florida 210.
Stacie Paxton, spokeswoman for the DNC, said the two states also have the option of making an appeal to credentials committee about being stripped of their delegates, but that appeal wouldn't be heard until sometime in the summer - possibly July or early August.
Seating on the credentials committee is not complete, however, and many believe that the committee would likely be split in half between Obama and Clinton supporters - making a favorable outcome for seating delegates unlikely.
But if additional delegates come to Denver for the convention scheduled Aug. 25-28, the DNCC believes it can handle the influx.
"It's just part of good event planning," DNCC spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth said.
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