Very convenient, especially since she was the only one of the top three on the Michigan ballot. Easiest delegates ever won.

This is so transparent, even Florida voters should understand.

Ok, that cuts it. If the DNC doesn't smack this down HARD and immediately I'm going to drop my Dem registration for the first time ever and register as Independent.

If Hillary and Bill keep up their recent tactics I'm going to join the bandwagon for Bloomberg and urge him to dump a billion dollars on the Clinton's heads.

I'm sick of these repellan people. Obviously the Cliton marriage vows aren't the only promises and agreements they consider worthless.

What did we really expect? This is the Clintons, after all.

The only way this matters is if Clinton needs her superdelegates and Florida and Michigan to reach a majority. Which would mean she probably didn't get a majority of pledged delegates, which would mean it would be so abundantly clear that she strongarmed her way to the nomination that it wouldn't work.

So it's a purely symbolic gesture, and from a raw electoral vote perspective, earning some good will with the Florida and Michigan press is worth more than losing some with the Iowa and New Hampshire press.

Well, I'm sure she'd be saying the same thing even if she weren't the only major nominee on both tickets.

I get a little sicker of the Clintons every day.

Nicholad Beaudrot wrote: "....So it's a purely symbolic gesture,..."

And the symbolism is "Clinton Uber Alles."

Nicholas,
You're probably right...but the DNC was very upfront about what would happen if those states moved their primaries up. This is some pretty awful hypocrisy from the Clinton camp, IMO.

I'm sorry but, DUH. As an Obama sympathiser, I can only wish that he had done this first. The idea that Florida and Michigan were going to be punished because they "broke the rules" was foolish to begin with. I'm sorry, what did they hurt Nevada's feelings? Or New Hampshire?

Look, I'm all for a common sense approach to a better primary system, and to get there you need a way to make sure that all states play by the agreed upon rules, but you can't start out with the principle that Iowa and New Hampshire get to go first and then negotiate from there. FL and MI were right to say the hell with that.

My, the Clintons want to change the rules? Big surprise. These are the same people who tried to close all the doors early during the Nevada caucuses.

I always thought the party was wrong to dismiss Michigan and Florida. Michigan stated that it wanted to have an impact on the primary because of their economic issues, for example. Is there some special probem with that??

While it may be exasperating to have rogue states altering the process, I object to the notion that these two increasingly ridiculous political parties somehow have the right to manage the electorate from the top down.

That said, the Clintons are "party creatures," as they used to say, and it's too late for them now.

If the Bush/Rove/Cheney years have taught us anything at all, it should be that the ends don't justify the means, rather the means ultimately color (and corrupt) the ends.

There is a quality about this year that is bitterer and meaner than any I can recall going back to Truman (with the exception of 1968).

For those of you who think the DNC was "wrong" to punish Florida and Michigan by stripping them of their delegates, be reminded that the rules governing the primary process were approved by all the DNC members last year. Everyone understood the penalty for jumping the queue was losing their delegates.

The delegates will in all likelihood be seated but that decision will be made at the convention and not before.

"The delegates will in all likelihood be seated but that decision will be made at the convention and not before."

You're probably right, but only if the MI and FL delegates do not affect the outcome. If seating them means, say, giving Hillary the nomination over Obama I think the Dems can kiss the African-American vote goodbye for the general--and maybe forever.

There seems to be a feeling that Clinton somehow broke some rule because her name was on the Michigan ballot. That's not true at all. The DNC asked the candidates to not campaign or spend money - she did not. The DNC never asked the candidates to remove their names from the ballot. Edwards and Obama did this voluntarily to avoid irking party leaders in Iowa and new Hampshire.

Also, it would appear that come February 9 Michigan Democrats might still be able to choose from the full Dem field:

" ... the state still will hold its joint Democratic-Republican presidential primary on Jan. 15 because it's state law. He declined to speculate about whether Democrats may decide to also hold a presidential caucus on Feb. 9 to officially pick a nominee from the full Democratic field and decide delegates to the Democratic National Convention."

Wow. This just, well, shows a complete disregard for the agreed-upon rules of the primary process. The campaign's statement:

Oh I'm sorry, but weren't there two other states that broke DNC primary rules that we "all agreed to"

...OH YEAH, Iowa and New Hampshire

your selective memory makes me question your journalistic integrity. I can't wait till the primary is over so the American Prospect can stop sucking.

You guys and gals are great journalist, but like most mainstream journalists you're shitty political reporters

In 1972, the forces backing Hubert Humphrey fought to make California's primary winner-take-all, assuming they'd win the state. McGovern's people challenged this and lost.
Then, after McGovern had won the primary, he went to the convention with a full delegation. Humphrey said that wasn't fair, that it should be split proportionally. Fortunately, his challenge failed.

I hope the Clintons meet with similar results.

What an obvious and pathetic power grab. Delegates from those states won't represent the will of the voters. No one else was even on the ballot in Michigan and nobody has campaigned in Florida where her name recognition pushed her to the top.

I didn't have a problem with Hillary before this, but now, I can't imagine any self-respecting Democrat to vote for her.

Pathetic.

And for the final insult, now we hear talk of holding the MI and FL Dem primaries AGAIN! State Dems knew what the result would be if they moved the primaries up - so they should get a life and deal with it.
Too late to seat them now and not fair to all candidates.