Biggest stumbling block to do-over elections may be money

[flashl]

Source: AP

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The biggest stumbling block to doing over the Democratic primaries in Michigan and Florida may be the cost.

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer estimates it would cost the state party $8 million to $12 million to set up party-run election sites and allow voting by mail or over the Internet.

Florida Democrats could be facing even higher costs.

During a meeting Wednesday night among House Democrats from Florida and Michigan, Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida relayed estimates that another primary would cost the state between $22 million and $24 million, a vote-by-mail contest would cost at least $8 million and the bill for a caucus would be about $4 million, said Hastings spokesman David Goldenberg.

Michigan and Florida both held January primaries but were stripped of their delegates for breaking Democratic National Committee rules by moving their contests to earlier dates. The national committee has suggested that the two states hold another round of presidential contests that would meet party rules and allow their delegates to be seated.

AP

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRIMARY_SCRAMBLE_FLOL-?SITE=FLTAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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I'm curious why another caucus for Florida?

[NC_Nurse]

1. Caucuses are cheap.

[Kittycat]

2. And the candidate with the most dedicated supporters, turns out the vote.

[flashl]

3. So ... Mar 1st was just to keep hope alive for Dems in Florida?

Florida goes ahead with delegate selection, despite sanctions

Saturday, March 1, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The Florida Democratic Party is going ahead with plans Saturday to select delegates for the national convention, even though the state had no delegates at stake during the Jan. 29 presidential primary.

The state party wants to be prepared in case it succeeds in efforts to have delegates seated when the convention begins this August in Denver. The Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates because it violated party rules by holding its primary before Feb. 5.

...

The state party will hold caucuses in each of Florida's congressional district, during which any Democrat can vote on who should serve as delegates. A total of 121 district-level delegates will be chosen based on how the state voted in the January primary. Sixty-seven will be assigned to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, 41 to Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and 13 to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Despite the possibility that none will be seated, Bubriski said interest in the selection process is high. He speculated that more people are aware of a process largely ignored in the past because of attention given to the dispute with the DNC.

[Clear Blue Sky]

4. States should pay

After all, it was their choice to move up their primary dates, against DNC rules/traditions.

[Lex1775]

5. Considering Michigan is millions in the red...

I don't think that would be such a good idea.

[gratuitous]

6. Tough call

I really don't want to throw races in Michigan and Florida to the Republicans, which will surely happen if the respective state Democratic parties have to foot the bill entirely for their transgression. But on the other hand, as Howard Dean said yesterday on the Today show, the state parties of all 50 states agreed to the terms and conditions of the primary schedule, and two of the states decided to break the deal on their own. Why should Democrats in Oregon or Louisiana or Maine give up campaign money to help Michigan and Florida atone for their own sins?

This could be a real object lesson four years from now for state party honchos who want to break the rules in a quest for "relevance." What the hell difference does it make today how New Hampshire or Iowa voted back in January? As it turns out, the states that hold their primaries and caucuses later are actually going to have a chance to help decide the nominee in a way that hasn't been done in decades. And that can happen in any election cycle.

[u2spirit]

7. Why doesn't congress forgo their pay for a year

since they suck anyway. This would pay for it.