Typical Mr. Wizard. I did enjoy seeing Keith Olberman read Hillary's words back to her about the Florida primary. Back around Iowa she said Florida meant absolutely nothing. Apparently since she got most of the votes that has changed. She responded by giving the cackle of a laugh we all know so well.
They also said her lead in California may not be that solid. It would be awesome if she lost that state. It would really put a dent in her.
If she wins because they somehow strongarm the DNC to count Florida and Michigan (i.e. cheat) then you will see more anger within the Democratic party than we saw after the recount.
Dems not counting those two states is going to hurt them in the future - especially Florida. Pretty freaking stupid on their part. Hillary did the smart thing and should help her if she wins the nomination.
Its not that they wont count Michigan or Floriday, its which delegation will they count.... the one with vote plans tied to the primary, or ones derived of another consituency. Each has arguments against. But the dems will not be so stupid as to omit any delegate representation from these states.
Maybe they are stupid enough, but I doubt they'll actually do it.
A key to what Florida really means for Democrats will be a breakdown of the vote that took place on Tuesday as opposed to the early vote which could have been 50 -60% of the total.
The Florida primary was do or die for the field of GOP candidates whereas the Florida primary didn't matter to the Dem field due to the lack of delegates. Subsequently, the Dem candidates spent almost no money there and did virtually no campaigning there to speak of.
Yet Hillary had over 100,000 more votes for her than McCain in the Florida primary.
There's a bigger story there than Hillary beating Obama in FL, and it has more to do with McCain and the GOP field than anything.
The delagates won't be counted... at least initially....
However I think it was smart for her to visit Florida and acknowledge the support. I think one thing the Dems risked with their pledge not to campaign in Florida was that it limited their exposure in the state at a time when focus can be cmost concentrated.
Great deal for Obama politically that the votes don't count for delegates, and thus his South Carolina victory is the only one that still counts on the nomination count ledger. Pretty good turnout for the Dems without any focus or visits from any candidate.
Hillary having more votes than McCain is as irrelevant as Republicans collectively receiving 1,920,350 votes in Florida compared to the Democrats' 1,684,390.
From a turnout standpoint, the numbers are significant in that FL was the intense focus months of GOP campaigning wheras for Dems it was almost entirely ignored with no reward for Dem primary voters in terms of delegates. I would have expected a much bigger difference in turnout in favor of the GOP candidates.
The fact that 100,000 more Floridians voted for Hillary than the winner of the GOP primary under those circumstances boggles the mind.