No do-over in Michigan
2008 RACE | State's delegates in limbo as Clinton, Obama spar over what's next
WASHINGTON -- The drive for a second Michigan presidential primary collapsed Thursday, and a fresh dispute broke out between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton over the fate of the state's 156 national convention delegates.
Obama's campaign said a fair resolution would be to split them evenly with Clinton. Aides to the former first lady instantly rejected the idea and said they would consider a mail-in primary -- even though Obama has raised concerns about the security of the vote.
(AP)
Obama leads the overall competition for convention delegates, and Clinton has been leading the effort to hold a revote in Michigan, eager for a chance to close the gap.
The state held a primary in January, so early in the year that it violated party rules. As a result, it was stripped of its delegates. Obama and several other Democratic candidates removed their name from the Michigan ballot and all Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign there.
Michigan Democratic leaders had proposed a do-over primary, to be conducted by the state on June 3 with funding by private donors. But lawmakers showed a lack of enthusiasm for a bill authorizing the vote, and the state Senate adjourned Thursday without taking it up.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, an Obama supporter and former presidential candidate, promoted the idea of evenly splitting the delegates between Obama and Clinton.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Dodd spoke to campaign leaders about the idea, and they agreed it would be an equitable way of handling Michigan. ''Senator Obama looks forward to building a winning campaign in Michigan in the fall as our Democratic nominee,'' Burton said.
But Clinton told reporters while campaigning in Indiana that Obama's nomination could be tainted if he achieves it without a second Michigan contest.
''I do not see how two of our largest and most significant states can be disenfranchised and left out of the process of picking our nominee without raising serious questions about the legitimacy of that nominee,'' Clinton told reporters. Florida also had its 210 delegates stripped for voting in January.