The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #110071   Message #2308339
Posted By: Bee-dubya-ell
06-Apr-08 - 12:58 PM
Thread Name: BS: FLA Delegation Will Be Seated at DNC
Subject: RE: BS: FLA Delegation Will Be Seated at DNC
Let me preface my comments by stating up front that I'm a Floridian, a Democrat, and an Obama supporter. So here's my two-cents worth:

What none of the news accounts bother to mention when they point out that Hillary Clinton "won" the Florida primary is that the presidential candidate choice was not the only item on the ballot. There was also a proposal to amend the state's constitution to double the size of homeowners' homestead exemptions on their property taxes. That proposal passed overwhelmingly. For many homeowners who happened to also be Democrats, it was the property tax issue issue that got them to the polls, not the presidential primary which they had already been told would be meaningless. What that means is that the entire election was skewed toward homeowners, who tend to be white, older, and middle-class, and away from renters who, proportionally, tend to be poorer, younger, and more likely to be of a minority.

So, we have the white middle class homeowners going to the polls in droves to vote their pocketbooks on the property tax issue, and placing a "meaningless" vote for a presidential candidate while they're at it. Then we have the poorer, younger, darker renters who have no incentive to vote since they don't have a dog in the property tax fight, and have been told their presidential vote won't mean squat. That sounds like a setup that would insure a primary "win" for Senator Clinton to me.

If the Florida delegation is seated and delegates are apportioned according to the outcome of the bogus Florida Democratic primary it will be an utter travesty. No "election" in which potential voters are told that their votes won't count for anything can be considered fair. Turning around and saying, "Gotcha! We're gonna count 'em after all!" is even more ridiculous than saying they wouldn't be counted in the first place.