Democratic presidential candidate
Senator Barack Obama hosts a discussion on home ownership at the College
of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas, Nevada May 27, 2008.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
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WASHINGTON, May 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC)'s rules and bylaws committee on Saturday reinstated all of Florida and Michigan's delegates to its party's presidential nomination convention in August.
However, each delegate from the two states will only have half a vote at the convention because the two states held its primary earlier than the DNC allowed, according to DNC officials.
The move leaves front-runner Sen. Barack Obama's lead over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton intact and was seen as a blow to the latter.
For Obama, the ruling removed one of the few remaining hurdles on his way to clinch the party's presidential nomination.
"This results in Sen. Clinton obtaining a substantial number of additional pledged delegates, but I also understand that many members of the Florida and Michigan delegations feel satisfied that the decision was fair," Obama said after a campaign event in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
"Our main goal is to get this resolved so we can immediately turn the focus of the entire party on winning Florida and Michigan and delivering on the needs of the people in Florida and Michigan -- states that are enormously important, states where a lot of people are struggling, "he said.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate
Sen. Hillary Clinton waits to be presented at a campaign event at Casa
Cuba in San Juan May 25, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
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The Florida decision, which follows the pro-Clinton results of that state's primary, was greeted by virtually all sides as an acceptable compromise on a thorny issue.
But Clinton backers vowed to fight the Michigan decision, which gave the New York senator a 10-delegate edge over Obama in a state where his name didn't appear on the primary ballot.
"Today's results are a victory for the people of Florida, who will have a voice in selecting our party's nominee and will see its delegates seated at our party's convention," said a joint-statement from Clinton advisers Harold Ickes and Tina Flournoy. "
"But we strongly object to the committee's decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan's delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan," it said.
The Democratic National Committee had penalized both states for holding their primaries earlier by excluding them from representation when the party nominates a candidate at the August convention.
Clinton and Obama had different plans to solve the issue because of different interests.
Neither of them campaigned in Florida ahead of its vote, and Clinton's was the only major candidate's name that appeared on Michigan's ballot.
She received 55 percent of the vote in that state, with 44 percent of voters voting "uncommitted."
So Clinton's complain about the DNC decision on Michigan is that Obama still gets delegates from the state even his name was not on the ballot.
Her supporters threatened to fight the decision all the way to the party convention in August.
The rules and bylaws committee's ruling gave Clinton 105 pledged delegates from Florida and 69 from Michigan, with a total of 87 votes.
Obama received 67 pledged delegates from Florida and 59 from Michigan, casting a total of 63 votes.
That tally leaves Obama ahead by the equivalent of 178 votes among national convention delegates.
Without counting votes from Florida and Michigan, the Illinois senator is ahead by 202 votes.
Based on Saturday's ruling, the new "magic number" to be the Democratic party's presidential nominee appears to be 2,118.
CNN estimates that as of this moment, Barack Obama has 2,050 delegates and Hillary Rodham Clinton has 1,877.
There are 55 delegates at stake Sunday in Puerto Rico's primary, 16 at stake on Tuesday in Montana and 15 at stake on Tuesday in South Dakota.
Those are the last primaries of the campaign season. None of those contests are "winner take all," so both candidates will win at least some delegates.
The key votes will be from the 200 or so super delegates (elected officials, party leaders and activists) who haven't yet committed to either candidate.
Obama, by Real Clear Politics' calculation, now has a 324-283 super delegate lead over Clinton.
With only three primaries left and the final one on June 3, Obama is confident that he will get enough votes next week to become the first black Democratic presidential nominee.
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Ahead of the final three
primaries in June, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are facing a high
stakes contest Saturday as a Democratic party panel decides whether to reseat
the Florida and Michigan delegates.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC)'s rules and bylaws
panel is set to begin a day-long meeting in Washington Hotel at 9:30 a.m. Full story
WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- It would be up to two
Democratic presidential candidates whether Florida could seat their delegates at
the party's nomination convention, the Democratic National Committee announced
on Wednesday.
The chairman, Howard Dean, said that he met with the
state's lawmakers in a discussion on ways of allocating delegates to Barack
Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are currently tied in a close presidential
nomination race. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic
leaders were pushing for the end of the party's presidential nomination race by
urging uncommitted superdelegates to make their endorsement, said a TV report on
Friday.
Citing a senior Democratic aide, the CNN reported
that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, was already calling uncommitted
superdelegates, asking them to publicly express their support between now and
next week to Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton to be the presidential
nominee. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter has urged Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to
"give it up" when the primary season ends early June, a CNN report said Monday.
Carter, in an interview with Sky News Sunday,
defended Clinton's "perfect right" to keep running in the three remaining
primaries in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana. Clinton's 21. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama has started searching for a running mate,
sources closed to him said Thursday.
A veteran Democratic activist was quoted by U.S. TV
networks assaying that former Fannie Mae executive Jim Johnson has accepted
Obama's request to begin a screening and selection process for a vice
presidential candidate. Full story
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Rodham Clinton has won Florida primary on Tuesday, further boosting her White
House bid.
As of 80 percent of precincts' ballots were counted,
Clinton led Barack Obama by 50 percent to 33 percent, and John Edwards ended at
the third place with 14 percent. Full story
