To everybody thiniking about "do-overs" in Michigan and Florida, I just want to point-out that state-wide elections cost a lot of money. Not to mention requiring lots of time and energy from folks who probably wouldn't be available to plan and carry-out the process. Forget the idea of a do-over.

And one more thing: I'm a Democrat. But if my state's delegates were disenfranchised at the convention, I would most certainly vote Republican (unless it's Huckaby. I couldn't do that for anything). The DNC better think VERY HARD about the ultimate effect of their decisions.

But this "election" does not count.

Does it mean something? Absolutely. We can celebrate that a million Floridians turned out to vote including my dear old Dad who supported Hillary last night.

But unfortunately we cannot count them. It sucks. Yes, agreed. But that is the way it is.

I do not think Florida voters are idiots, anymore than I think Obama supporters are idiots as HRC supporters keep hinting at in here, nor do I think Hillary Clinton is a bad person, nor Obama is rude.

None of that.

I think this was a state-level gamble that backfired not only on the voters of those states, but on everyone else.

As usual everything is a joke to the Clinton supporters. Laugh, have fun and change the rules; really it is okay. Everyone will have their day to laugh and learn who was the real fools. Don’t worry, I will cross the party line with style in November just because you informed me to do it right now. You are truly a Clinton supporter with that ego!!!

Usually, I like AKA Smith, but I am sick to death of the discussion of this supposed snub. Maybe he's pissed at her; so what. He's a human being. Maybe instead of the fake-assery the Clinton's espouse he's willing to show when he's actually upset with someone rather than using Rovian techniques to nip at their heels. Or maybe he's an immature asshole.

AkA, I could say that the reason why you don't "trust" Obama is because he's a black man. I could make that arguement. Not because he's immature, or because of his slightly different take on the issues than Hillary Clinton, but because when you look at him (your words) his blackness offends you which your subconcious mind turns into the more socially responsible term, mistrust. I, however, don't think that's the case, but I don't know your innner workings. Just like I don't know the inner workings of Obama when he "snubbed." Clinton. Or Clinton's inner workings. I don't expect to know the soul of the president; all I want is someone competent who will have the best interests of the country in mind and not his or her little coteire of friends, special interest groups, and future historical laurels.

I haven't read through all of the letters, but AkA Smith's point by point discussion of each eye flick, head turn, etc during a 2-second exchange was really getting on my nerves. It's like tabloid journalism applied to something much more important than whether Britney Spears is wearing panties.

I, still don't know who I'm going to vote for in the primary, but I'm getting pretty sick of both sides going at each other like rabid dogs and taking everything so goddamn personally. Obama and Clinton included. Maybe I'll just opt out and vote for McCain, and worry about the democrats when the big election comes.

It seems that elections necessarily include two separate paradigms: the issues and the race. Here at salon, readers are famous for taking the media for task to focusing on the race (see my own posts here; I'm constantly whining about this), but the reality is that the candidates themselves must address both the race (not "race", lol, but "the race") and the issues. Both form and content count if you're the one doing the running. I say all this as prelude to the following observation:

Hilary HAD to change the momentum after SC, so the obvious solution was to claim the easy victory in Fla. as though it were no different from other primaries. She didn't do the same thing in Michigan b/c she was not in the same political position, having just won NH. Who WOULDN'T do this? If you were her adviser, wouldn't you tell her she must "capture Florida" for the publicity and to remove the "bump" from SC for Obama going into Super Tuesday? Obama certainly would have done the same.

And if Obama HAD done the same (ie, claim victory for a publicly discounted race as though it were the same as other races), then Hilary CERTAINLY would have used something equally as dismissive as "beauty contest" to describe his action. That's sort of the game they are forced into playing, no?

Most of the followers of both Hillary and Obama seem very hateful of the other person's opinion.

I would like Solon to do a demographics of its readers so we can understand what motivate us to write to the editor of Solon and other editorial boards. We must have very little to do with our time to continue doing this, or we have some personality quirks that motivate us.

Sorry, old chap. I don't support anyone of the candidates. And I am not joking. You are not the first blogger to tell readers that you would rather vote for the opposition than for Clinton. I would vote for the eventual nominee of my party. I just think we should not attack each other by accusing candidates of bad faith, lying, cheating every time they are reported as doing this by the wise men on tv. Supporting one's candidate is fine. But attacking an opponent and calling them names is counter productive. Neither candidate is perfect. Let's start from there.

it is in these unrehearsed moments that we are able to take the measure of the candidate. by pretending not to see hillary clinton at the state of the union, then avoiding her hand, obama revealed a streak of pettiness, immaturity and poor judgment. of course, clinton's gesture was calculated-- but politically very savvy.