By Billy House
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON – Florida Democrats will proceed Saturday in Tampa with selecting 40 additional presidential delegates, despite no deal yet between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and national party leaders on recognizing any of the state’s delegates.
These at-large delegates, who are typically local-level elected officials and party activists, are to be chosen based proportionally on the results of the state’s Jan. 29 primary won by Clinton but disregarded by national Democratic Party leaders and Obama.
They would be among Florida’s total 185 delegates that normally would be allotted based on the primary results. The state also would have 26 other delegates -- mostly automatic super delegates who are not determined by primary voters -- for a total of 211.
There was no immediate comment from the Obama campaign.
But at least one prominent state Democrat, national committeeman Allan Katz of Tallahassee -- an Obama supporter -- says he wants state Democrats to “put everything on hold.”
The state party should wait, said Katz, until the Democratic National Committee’s Rules & By-Laws committee reviews its decision to strip Florida and Michigan of all of their delegates to the party’s nominating convention, and whether it should be modified..
Katz said it makes no sense to select more delegates before the Florida delegate flap is resolved, especially based on a proportion of the Jan. 29 vote that likely will not stand up.
“It’s much harder to un-ring a bell,” he said.
The state party is proceeding with the at-large delegate selection because it is following its approved delegate-selection plan, said spokesman Mark Bubriski, adding that adjustments could later be made. There is no intent to benefit one candidate over the other, he said.
The state party’s 200-member executive committee will pick from the nearly 400 aspirants seeking the at-large spots, starting at 10 a.m. at the Tampa Airport Hilton Westshore.
Clinton, who trails Obama in the Democratic presidential delegate tally, has been saying her victory in Florida’s Jan. 29 primary should count as is.
She won the primary with 50 percent of the vote to his 33 percent.
But the Obama campaign contends that awarding delegates based on the Florida primary wouldn’t be fair, because the candidates were told it wouldn’t count and they didn't campaign here, even though their names were on the ballot.
That DNC’s rules committee review has been scheduled for May 31 in Washington. As things stand, the state still has no delegates to be sent to the convention based on that committee’s action against Florida last year for violating its primary calendar rules.
But DNC officials have said they expect some Florida representation at the Denver convention will be worked out, with the cooperation of both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.
Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@mediageneral.com or at 1 (202) 662-7673.
These at-large delegates, who are typically local-level elected officials and party activists, are to be chosen based proportionally on the results of the state’s Jan. 29 primary won by Clinton but disregarded by national Democratic Party leaders and Obama.
They would be among Florida’s total 185 delegates that normally would be allotted based on the primary results. The state also would have 26 other delegates -- mostly automatic super delegates who are not determined by primary voters -- for a total of 211.
There was no immediate comment from the Obama campaign.
But at least one prominent state Democrat, national committeeman Allan Katz of Tallahassee -- an Obama supporter -- says he wants state Democrats to “put everything on hold.”
The state party should wait, said Katz, until the Democratic National Committee’s Rules & By-Laws committee reviews its decision to strip Florida and Michigan of all of their delegates to the party’s nominating convention, and whether it should be modified..
Katz said it makes no sense to select more delegates before the Florida delegate flap is resolved, especially based on a proportion of the Jan. 29 vote that likely will not stand up.
“It’s much harder to un-ring a bell,” he said.
The state party is proceeding with the at-large delegate selection because it is following its approved delegate-selection plan, said spokesman Mark Bubriski, adding that adjustments could later be made. There is no intent to benefit one candidate over the other, he said.
The state party’s 200-member executive committee will pick from the nearly 400 aspirants seeking the at-large spots, starting at 10 a.m. at the Tampa Airport Hilton Westshore.
Clinton, who trails Obama in the Democratic presidential delegate tally, has been saying her victory in Florida’s Jan. 29 primary should count as is.
She won the primary with 50 percent of the vote to his 33 percent.
But the Obama campaign contends that awarding delegates based on the Florida primary wouldn’t be fair, because the candidates were told it wouldn’t count and they didn't campaign here, even though their names were on the ballot.
That DNC’s rules committee review has been scheduled for May 31 in Washington. As things stand, the state still has no delegates to be sent to the convention based on that committee’s action against Florida last year for violating its primary calendar rules.
But DNC officials have said they expect some Florida representation at the Denver convention will be worked out, with the cooperation of both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.
Reporter Billy House can be reached at bhouse@mediageneral.com or at 1 (202) 662-7673.