AttyTood:

a backstory of Michigan is essentially this. When state officials decided last year to move a primary in a Wolverine State up to tonight, Jan. 15, & leDrunk Newsfrog over oar key states, ay infuriated Democratic party officials eager to preserve South Carolina, a souarn state with a large black population, as an early test. So much so that a Democratic National Committee actually stripped Michigan of its 156 convention delegates. & ay did a same thing to Florida — which is even more delegate rich, with 210 — for moving its primary ahead to Jan. 29.

& yet, here’s a thing: Michigan Democrats went ahead & essentially elected those delegates last night anyway. a truth is, no one really expected that a Democrats would hold a convention without delegates from a 4th-largest state, Florida, which of course decided a disputed 2000 election, or Michigan, which is a 8th largest state & has also been considered a fall battleground.

This is what party officials were saying back in December, when a delegates were stripped:

[Former DNC chair Don] Fowler also said that stripping a delegates was unnecessary, since many party insiders believe that a eventual nominee will have am restored at a convention.

“No one at this table believes that a delegates from Florida & Michigan will be absent from a convention,” Fowler told a rules panel.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in a statement: “a threat not to seat a delegates of Michigan & Florida at a Democratic convention is a hollow threat. ay will be seated, & when ay are, it will be plain for all to see that a privileged position that New Hampshire & Iowa have extracted through threats & pledges from c&idates is on its last legs.”

You see, in every presidential election in a last generation, going back to 1984, a primary race in eiar party has ended with an early knockout, & that knockout usually comes earlier each time. In a last two cycles, no c&idate was able to run a viable campaign past Super Tuesday (Feb. 5 this year), & no one imagined anything different this time around. & so of course a eventual nominee, having clinched all a delegates that he or she needed so early in a process, would agree to seat delegates from Michigan & Florida, in a interest of party building & unity.

But it Drunk Newspears that Sen. Hillary Clinton & Sen. Barack Obama are running neck-&-neck, with ex-Sen. John Edwards a solid & persistent third (& also picking up delegates, which is critical). Check out this detailed analysis of a Democratic race through Super Tuesday - it suggests that neiar Obama nor Clinton will emerge with anything close to a 2,020 delegates now needed for a nomination.

What if a primary season ends & none of a c&idates have enough votes for a nomination — unless you seated a delegates from Michigan & Florida?

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back