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Posted: May 31, 2008 11:43 AM
Florida Pushes Democrats to Seat Delegation
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Citing the participation of a record 1.75 million voters in their January primary, political leaders pleaded with Democratic officials Saturday to seat their delegates to this summer’s nominating convention.

“For the 1.75 million that voted, I hope that you will hear their voices and count their votes,” Sen. Bill Nelson told the panel meeting in a Washington, DC hotel.

The 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee convened Saturday’s meeting in hopes of brokering a deal that would allow some of the state’s delegated to be seated.

Florida, along with Michigan, lost all of their delegates to the convention for violating the committee’s rules by moving their primary to Jan. 29, which fell nearly a week ahead of the Feb. 5 mark set by the Democratic National Committee.

None of the major candidates campaigned in either state, but unlike Michigan where Sen. Hillary Clinton was the only major candidate on the ballot, all of the top contenders appeared on Florida’s ballot.

Now party officials are pushing to seat the delegates selected in the Jan. vote, a move that would bolster Clinton’s delegate numbers. She handily won Florida with some 50 percent of the vote, well ahead of Sen. Barack Obama’s 33 percent.

Committee members opened the hearing explaining why they had taken a hard-line towards those states that moved their primaries ahead of the scheduled dates.

“We needed to send a very strong signal in order to prevent additional states from moving forward and to protect the integrity of the process,” Alexis Herman, a former Clinton administration official and chair of the committee said.