2 Florida Lawmakers Have New Plan To Split Delegates

Wed, March 19, 2008 - 3:23 PM

Florida state Senate Democratic Leader Steven A. Geller and fellow state Democratic Sen. Jeremy Ring on Wednesday unveiled a plan they said could resolve the delegate standoff between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over the state's delegates.

The plan offered by the lawmakers would provide for seating of all of Florida’s 187 pledged delegates.

The compromise solution calls for half of the delegates to be awarded based upon the results of the Jan. 29th Florida Presidential Primary vote. That would give Hillary Clinton a 19-delegate edge.

The remainder would be seated on either the percentage of overall pledged delegates each candidate receives or the national popular vote -- measures that, as of now, would give Barack Obama a net gain of a few delegates.

The two lawmakers said that other 50 percent of delegates could be allocated according to any of several formulas, including but not limited to:

• an 50-50 split

• a proportional share based on the total popular votes received nationally excluding Michigan and Florida

• a proportional share based on the total delegate counts nationally excluding Michigan and Florida

“This plan gives us a light at the end of a very dark tunnel,” said Geller. “As we all know, as goes Florida, so goes the nation. With the enormous problems our country faces, in this presidential election it’s critical that the Democratic voices in this state be recognized and counted. This gives every stakeholder the opportunity to do just that. Since the DNC is not willing to resolve this issue, we’re calling on the two campaigns to step in and intervene.”

-- Billy House