A poster upthread claimed that the FL voters were "disenfranchised" by their Republican governor. I'd like to know how accurate that is.

Several prior Salon letter threads have discussed FL & MI before [too bad we don't have the tech to link back to prior threads ].

A poster from FL said the majority Republican legislature in FL pushed through the primary. Other legislation considered vital was in the bills, so the dems they felt they couldn't vote against it. He also provided a link to a dem FAQ on the vote to support his assertions. Unfortunately, a linkedto site (www.fladems.com) contains numerous articles from the Florida democratic party from the time period that undermine the portrayal of the florida dem party as innocent bystanders. They were all for thumbing their nose at the DNC and refusing to kow-tow. The convential wisdom at the time was that it would all be over in early February. Check out their articles from Q3 2007.

So the Florida dem establishment played chicken with the DNC and the voters lost. I think the republican party handled this better. They let the vote go forward, but cut the delegate count by 50% in FL & MI.

The democrats could do something similar, re-vote in FL & MI, but seat half the normal delagates. Everybody votes, the rules are kept, the rulebreakers are punished.

Thanks for the link. We seem to be recycling a lot of material on this topic lately, so it would be great just to be able to drop in a prior letter thread that one thought definitive. Plus someone could look at it without copying and pasting links. [That's a hint to Manjoo to start hacking the slashcode].

I'm pissed at the party heads (though 'tails' may be more accurate) over FL & MI. Even at Dean, who's the advocate of the 50 state strategy. Where was the outrage before all the voting started?

We've always had this tension between small states and big ones, it's why we have a house and senate. So I can see cutting a primary deal with dinky states like IA and NH; though I think a rotation scheme is overall fairer. We are supposed to be a nation of rules, though steadfastness in that idea continues to erode. No matter what happens now, we're in the middle of the contest and somebody will feel ripped-off no matter how the issue is resolved.

As far as the joint ticket goes, I have no clue. I think I feel the same as I did before March 4th. We need to keep going. Now the dust (and the TX caucus votes) needs to settle from the 4th. I'd like to see what McCain does as well. He's already re-positioning himself away from the 100 years in Iraq stance.

One question in my mind would be, "will a joint ticket increase or decrease chances for success"?. Always a judgement call.

A joint ticket would bring a little peace. You won't be happy that I just heard on NPR a rules committee fellow saying that he was sure the committe would be glad to hear any solutions from Michigan and Florida. He says that they are there to negotiate these things. --AKASmith

Wow, this article must have hit some search engine, lot's of first time posters (I'll get back to that shortly next post) with lot's of sound and fury.

A joint ticket probably would appease the restless hoardes of partisans, but would it strengthen the ticket, or re-inforce weaknesses? I could see either Obama or Hillary looking at somebody like general Wesley Clark or Joe Biden to re-inforce the foreign policy or military angle to try to blunt McCain's War Hero status, to name only one area. That's why I think we need another few weeks to look at things. How fast McCain moves with a V.P. choice and how centrist or to the right will also be valuable to look at.

It's great those DNC rules committee idiots are pulling their heads out of ... the sand. I just hope they can move things from screwed to less screwed.

The re-do in FL & MI looks to me like a good tool for sorting out all the partisan, victory at any price, we had to destroy the village in order to save it types in either camp. There's also some thoughtful types in the middle.

Here are my favorites:

I am not familiar with the issue, but I believe they should vote again. [name witheld]

Sometimes I think the founding fathers may have just been right about decrying the establishment of political parties and direct democracy. -- RealityCounts

Yes it does. It's a Republic, can we keep it?

Here are some of the losers, posting for the first time.

Get a Grip

What kind of USA wants Obama to be our president. OMG. his middle name is hussain[sic]. I dont care where he was born, what he is, what he is about. I want to move off because he is probly going to blow us up. were going to give that man the keys to our beloved country come on now. I keep telling my self this is a cruel joke why would any one vote for that man. he is a towel head. we banned them from getting on planes and we want him for president. I think NOT. GO HILLARY.

The sooner we get rid of all the Clinton's the better off the country will be. I have talked to so many women voters here in North Carolina and not one of them said she would vote for her. They are the reason for nafta and she needs to accept that fact and move on. She is a dirty politian and does not need to be our president. Scare tactics are so low and that is the kind of president that she will be, low, cheating and dishonest. LInda J