Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Florida and Michigan

Here's an interesting development. NAACP chairman Julian Bond said the DNC should seat the Florida and Michigan delegation or risk disenfranchising the minority voters in those states.

A little background. The Democratic parties in Michigan and Florida wanted to join the group of states moving their primaries up in the calendar. But the DNC said that if any states moved them up in the calendar beyond February 5, their delegates would not count.

Because of the DNC's ruling, no Democrats campaigned in the two states. In fact, only Clinton and Kucinich were even on the ballot in Michigan. Now that those states have passed and Clinton won them easily, she is crying foul, saying those voters must be represented at the convention. (Good timing.)

Now back to Bond and the NAACP. As far as I know, the NAACP didn't make a fuss when the DNC decided not to count the delegates from Michigan and Florida. And as far as I know, Bond has no official tie to Clinton.

There are a few things that puzzle me about this. First of all, why is he speaking now, but didn't say anything when the DNC made the announcement? Second, why is it that only the minority is disenfranchised? What does this have to do with race?

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