Changing views on Florida delegates from the Hillary campaign. [View All]

[madfloridian]

I was never really against anyone in this primary season. We kind of liked Edwards, then decided to be neutral. We ended up voting for Obama because of Hillary's push in Florida to get the delegates. Florida was sanctioned, there are no delegates to seat.

Here is what her campaign said in September last year about the Florida sanctions.

Changing statements as the campaign changes

“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process,” Patti Solis Doyle, the Clinton campaign manager, said in a statement.

Here is what Mark Penn said recently about those votes.

A large, broad, and diverse group of voters came out and voted for Hillary in Florida. She won women, men, and just about every age category. She won nearly 6 in 10 Latinos and nearly 3 in 10 African American voters.

The vote turned out to be far more than symbolic. Well over 1.5 million Democrats cast their ballots, more than twice the number of voters who came out to vote in the 2004 primary.

Most of the voters in Florida fully expect that their votes will not be wasted again -- they too have a voice at the convention, and Hillary has asked her delegates to support their being seated.

Here is what Simon Rosenberg, a fellow founder of the DLC in the late 80s had to say about this situation.

But there is a line in politics where tough and determined becomes craven and narcissistic, where advocacy becomes spin, and where integrity and principle is lost. I am concerned that this Florida gambit by the Clinton campaign is once again putting two of my political heroes too close - or perhaps over - that line. So that even if they win this incredible battle with Barack Obama they will end up doing so in a way that will make it hard for them to bring the Party back together, and to lead the nation to a new and better day.

I would love my vote to count. However the role Florida Democratic leaders played in this coup to pre-empt the importance of the smaller states and Super Tuesday...has shown they were more about their own desires and preferences. They were willing to take our votes away to get media attention for the winner here.

To ask or insist that the Florida delegates be seated is a direct challenge to the DNC, and it should not happen.

There is a line in the sand, Simon is right. When you cross it, you divide the party.