In addition to sounding like she has been trying to rewrite the rules in the middle of the game, I think the strident rhetoric by the Clinton campaign on the sanctioning of FL and MI has done grave damage to their campaign. Most of the superdelegates, who at this point have the power to decide the outcome of the race, are from the other 48 states and 6 territories. They played by the rules. They are not interested in rewarding FL and MI for bad behavior and have resented the approach taken by the Clintons.
In addition, Senator Clinton's campaign agreed to the sanctioning of Florida and Michigan. If the voters of those states were disinfranchised then she was instrumental in bringing that about. The superdelegates in these other places understand all this better than anyone, and I think her wild approach to resolving the unfortunate problem of FL and MI has ended up being a major cause of her terrible showing with superdelegates these last 2 months. Like many of us who understood the system, and her role in creating it, the campaign's consistent whining and strident rhetoric has spoken very badly of her character. To many this episode has reinforced the notion that she and her husband were her willing to say and do anything to get elected, including what appears to be, let us say, lying and cheating.
Given that no one campaigned in either place, or that Barack was not even on the ballot in MI, these states did not have legitimate elections. Counting the outcome towards the eventual delegate count is simply not an option. The idea of somehow splitting each of them 50/50 to each of the 2 candidates, and reducing their total number by some percentage, now seems the most fair way to proceed.
For the Clinton campaign it is time to let go of the FL and MI fantasy. It has done a great deal of damage already to her standing with far too many.
Update: For more on the state of the Democratic primary race visit here.
Update Thur pm - Amazingly, Senator Clinton sent a letter today to Senator Obama about this very issue. Read it here. I first weighed in, strongly, on this issue the night of the Florida primary, and have felt very strongly since then that this was a terrible decision by the Clinton campaign.
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BACKLASH AGAINST CLINTON RE FLA & MI VOTES
I CANNOT BELIEVE SEN. CLINTON. FIRST SHE SIGNS OFF ON AN AGREEMENT NOT TO CAMPAIGN OR RUN IN FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN. SO DID JOHN EDWARDS AND BARAK OBAMA. BOTH MEN HAVING INTEGRITY AND HONOR, DID JUST THAT. THEIR NAMES WERE REMOVED FROM THE MICHIGAN ROSTER. DID SEN. CLINTON DO THE SAME? NOT A CHANCE. I THINK SHE KNEW BEFOREHAND THAT SHE WAS NOT GOING TO PLAY BY THE RULES AND WENT AHEAD WITH HER PLANS TO LEAVE HER NAME ON THE BALLOT IN BOTH STATES.
NOW, SHE WANTS ALL THE VOTES TO BE GIVEN TO HER REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT SEN. OBAMA'S NAME WAS NOT EVEN ON THE BALLOT). HER TREACHERY AND DISHONESTY NEVER CEASES. NOW SHE HAS ONE OF HER STOOGES, IN FOR FORM OF LANNY DAVIS, TO GO ON TV AND BLAME OBAMA FOR THE DEBACLE. SAYING HE WOULD NOT AGREE TO PAYING HALF OF THE MONEY IT WOULD TAKE FOR AN ADDITIONAL PRIMARY FOR THESE 2 STATES. OBAMA WOULD BE A FOOL TO PAY $15 MILLION DOLLARS FOR HILLARY'S MISTAKE. HAD SHE FOLLOWED THE RULES, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING AND TO CONTINUE TO BLAME SEN. OBAMA FOR THIS IS ANOTHER SIGN OF HER DISHONESTY AND UNTRUSTWORTHINESS. NOW SHE WANTS TO GO BY THE DMC RULES THAT STATE (UNDER SOME RULING) THAT THERE IS A WAY FOR HER TO BE THE NOMINEE. YES, HILLARY, RULES ARE RULES BUT SINCE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN FIT TO FOLLOW THEM IN ALL THIS TIME, WHY DON'T YOU CONTINUE TO BREAK THEM.
IT IS TIME FOR CLINTON TO STAND UP AND ADMIT TO HER BEING PARTLY TO BLAME FOR THESE PROBLEMS WITH MI AND FLA. KNOWING THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, IT IS ALSO TIME FOR HER TO SMELL THE COFFEE. SHE CANNOT WIN THIS ELECTION AND IF SHE THINKS THE DELEGATES ARE GOING TO GO AGAINST THE PEOPLE AND GIVE THE NOMINATION TO HER AND BILL, THEY COULD NOT BE MORE MISTAKEN.
AND AS FAR AS A RULE THAT STATES SHE COULD ALSO BECOME THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE WHEN SHE LOSES THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE, SHE CAN FORGET THAT. BARACK OBAMA HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO NAME HIS OWN VP. WHY WOULD HE WANT SOMEONE AS A PARTNER WHO HAS CONSISTENTLY MALIGNED HIM OVER THE PAST YEAR, PUT OUT FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT HIS RELIGION, HIS CITIZENSHIP, HIS PATRIOTISM AND THE LIST GOES ON. (HAS ANYBODY NOTICED THAT NEITHER HILLARY NOR BILL WEAR A FLAG PIN?)
BARACK KNOWS AS WELL AS I DO THAT WITH THE LIKES OF BILL CLINTON, JAMES CARVEL AND LANNY DAVIS, HE WOULD BE LUCKY TO LAST 90 DAYS BEFORE THESE 3 WOULD FIND A "SOLUTION" TO THE ISSUE, PUT HILLARY IN OFFICE AND MAKE MICHELLE A WIDOW. I WOULDN'T TRUST BILL, HILLARY, LANNY OR ANY OF THEIR FOLLOWERS AS FAR AS I COULD THROW A BUILDING IF I WAS BARACK OBAMA.
THESE ARE SNAKES IN A BARREL AND IF YOU REACH IN, YOU WILL SURELY BE BITTEN.
Does motive matter?
One thing that has occurred to me is that Florida and Michigan seem to be slightly different as regards why they did what they did. It appears that in Michigan key Democrats intentionally subverted the rules in order to try to gain more influence and, specifically, to help Clinton (Granholm must be one of Clinton's most ardent supporters). Florida is a bit more complicated, though Democrats endorsed the move, it was mostly the work of the Republican dominated legislature and would have passed regardless.
It's fair to wonder whether other state reps are particularly annoyed with the idea of, in effect, endorsing the maneuvering of state officials who were trying to gain clout at the expense of their own states. I guess it hadn't occurred to me that Clinton's handling of the MI/FL fiasco would negatively influence Super Ds -- just as it didn't occur to me that, apparently, Hispanics were particularly offended when Clinton's people called Bill Richardson a Judas.
A lot of tone deafness all the way around.