It seems a lot of Democrat Party donors are not satisfied with the way the primaries are going and promise to withhold donations if their complaints are not resolved.
Democrats in Michigan and Florida struggled Friday to resolve the impasse over their disputed January primaries, coming up with a plan to hold a June primary in Michigan while remaining deadlocked in Florida.
Reflecting how tense the situation has become, influential fund-raisers for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have stepped up their behind-the-scenes pressure on national party leaders to resolve the matter, with some even threatening to withhold their donations to the Democratic National Committee unless it seats the delegates from the two states or holds new primaries there.
That should improve their chances in November.
Pushing to seat the Florida delegates, at least one top Clinton fund-raiser, Paul Cejas, a Miami businessman who has given the Democratic National Committee $63,500 since 2003, has demanded Democratic officials return his 2007 contribution of $28,500, which they have agreed to do.
"If you're not going to count my vote, I'm not going to give you my money," said Mr. Cejas, who was the United States ambassador to Belgium from 1998 to 2001.
Christopher Korge, a Florida real estate developer who is another top fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton, held an event last year in his home that brought in about $140,000 for the national party, which was set aside in a special account for the general election battle in Florida. But he told committee officials this week that if Florida's delegate conundrum was not settled satisfactorily he would be asking for the money back.
"If we do not resolve this issue," Mr. Korge said, "I think it's safe to say there will be a request for a return of $140,000."
I guess some Democrats are really not satisfied.
One Democrat understands what all this means for the party.
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be ``ruinous'' for the Democratic Party if the contest isn't resolved before the August nominating convention.
Cuomo, a Democrat, said the party may be able to avoid a damaging convention fight if Clinton and Obama teamed up on a party ticket, or if the media forced the candidates before then to substantively address big policy issues facing the nation, such as the economy and the war in Iraq.
``It would be ruinous to the Democrats to get to the convention without an arrangement of some kind,'' Cuomo said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today.
This is just peachy. For McCain. I like that.
To find out what rank and file Democrats are thinking about this read the comments here. An example:
Seriously as a Democrat, if Obama were to represent our party I would rather vote for McCain in the General Election. Obama?s connections to radical mentors to which he openly admits raises serious questions about his motives. I will not be party to any person connected in anyway to radical racist anti-Semitic groups.
Another goody:
If Clinton takes the nomination, I'm voting for Nader.
It looks to me like this election will come down to party unity. Something the Democrats seem to be avoiding for the time being.
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Comments
You may recall that when President Bush came out for amnesty, contributions to the RNC halted, and they had to fire their phone-bank workers. That was just plain-Jane, cloth-coat Repubs, of course, who were distinguished by the upper party for their knuckle-dragging Nativism. Not like these lofty PoshDems. But we rethuglican dolts did eventually wield the 2 X 4 effectively enough to catch the elephant's attention. Perhaps these too will attract the mule's attention, by the same traditional means.
Simon Kenton · March 15, 2008 10:26 AM
Yeah, yeah, yeah... that's what they say NOW when they feel bold and radical in their self-righteousness, but wait until November and reality begin to overtake emotions - they will start quivering like a litter of new born Chihuahuas.
Seriously as a Democrat, if Obama were to represent our party I would rather vote for McCain in the General Election. Obama?s connections to radical mentors to which he openly admits raises serious questions about his motives. I will not be party to any person connected in anyway to radical racist anti-Semitic groups.
Jonathan · March 15, 2008 10:40 AM
Wow! The Democrats are handling this issue so well. I can hardly wait for them to run the nation's heath care system.
Mike G in Corvallis · March 15, 2008 11:22 AM
Jonathon, normally I might agree with you, but remember that the Republicans managed to up and nominate a fairly centrist guy. Hardcore Democrats may wail now and fall in line later, but softer people, which after all are the bulk of Democrats by electoral weight, may not have such a problem voting for McCain.
That may end up being the real spoiler for the entire campaign. If the Republicans had nominated a solid conservative, he probably would have lost entirely, or would have at the very least faced an uphill battle. But McCain? If he manages to rally even a bit of the Republican coalition to his side (and running as a Fiscal conservative, as he has started to, would grab me!), and peels off a significant bit of the Democratic base (with both his centrism and also possibly fiscal conservatives on the Democratic side), he can win handily, even after the hardcore Democrats have dug in.
(Personally, I think it's the fiscal conservatives that are the demographic to watch in this election. They've been unrepresented for years now, repeatedly promised things then abandoned most horribly. Whichever candidate can get them on his or her side is going to have a significant advantage, IMHO.)
"But Mr. McAuliffe said in an interview Friday that he did not approve of donors’ holding back their contributions to the D.N.C."
Well, duh!
Geez, what a prick.
Letalis Maximus, Esq. · March 15, 2008 12:23 PM
So "influential fund-raisers for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton" are playing hardball with their money while Clinton still seems to have chance. Surprise, surprise.
And if Michigan delegates are seated even though only Clinton left her name on the ballot after all sides agreed Michigan wouldn't count, you can bet that Obama backers will show at least as much gumption.
Barring huge surprises, I think Obama will eventually get the nomination. It sounds like the Michigan situation is working its way to a resolution acceptable to all parties.
Florida seems to pose a problem that is rather harder, but they'll probably find a resolution that gives Clinton more than 50% - still not enough to change the lead.
I'm sure that the vast majority of those who vote for Clinton in the primaries will also support Obama in the national election, not McCain.
Neal J. King · March 15, 2008 07:08 PM
Since when did election primaries become the political equivalent of college basketball's "March madness" tournament? Just why does the choice of their nominee have to be settled BEFORE the convention instead of AT the convention? If the Democrats hold their convention in such low regard, in the future perhaps they should just stop holding conventions altogether and instead choose their nominee by means of a primary in each and every state. In fact, one way they might settle the problem with seating the Florida and Michigan delegations this year is to apportion those delegate votes to Obama and Hillary in proportion to the popular vote each candidate manages to accumulate in all the other states where primaries are being held this year. That would be equivalent to doing away with the Electoral College in the Presidential election, which a lot of Democrats seem to be in favor of anyway, and it lets the popular vote settle the issue.
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
You may recall that when President Bush came out for amnesty, contributions to the RNC halted, and they had to fire their phone-bank workers. That was just plain-Jane, cloth-coat Repubs, of course, who were distinguished by the upper party for their knuckle-dragging Nativism. Not like these lofty PoshDems. But we rethuglican dolts did eventually wield the 2 X 4 effectively enough to catch the elephant's attention. Perhaps these too will attract the mule's attention, by the same traditional means.