DNC

The DNC has launched a new ad exposing McCain and his big gambling problem. It's not just that he gambles at the tables, but he also gambles with taxpayers money with all his gambling industry lobbyists on his campaign:

The DNC wants answers on rather or not McCain has broken the law by withdrawing from the federal finance system. A judge had ruled earlier that the FEC could convene without a quorum, but the FEC seems to be ignoring that judges decision.

An article in the New York Times talks about big money donors asking for donations back from the DNC, due to the dispute over Michigan and Florida. Here is a look at one of those donors:

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.

It amazes me that the decision to unseat the delegates in Florida and Michigan happened almost a year ago and NOW these people are mad. Why the hell didn't they speak up before? If you look at Mr. Cejas, it appears he is close to the Clintons. I really doubt any donor becomes ambassador to Belgium.

I will give Howard Dean credit on his handling of this. He has really stuck to his guns. He told Florida and Michigan if they submit a new delegate selection plan, then they can be seated. It's the bureaucracy on the state level, and through the candidates, that is preventing this.

What we really need is a national primary. Primaries for both parties are held on the same day and the nominees are decided then. That or do away with primaries all together and go to a run-off ballot for the general election. Something definitely needs to change.

Feels that he can break the law. The DNC is filing a formal complaint tomorrow with the DNC over John McCain trying to pull out of public financing.

Clinton has lead with party insiders

Should the voters decide who becomes the nominee or "party insiders"? This is the exact reason the super delegates have been under fire since the beginning. The DNC needs to look at getting rid of them and letting the people decide. This is a democracy - isn't it?

This is becoming more of a mess by the day:

It never did made sense to write off the Democratic primary votes in Florida and Michigan - and it makes even less sense now that Super Tuesday has brought forth a muddle in the delegate race.

Even the party official who stripped Florida and Michigan of convention delegates now seems open to revisiting their status.

When Howard Dean was asked on Tuesday in a CNN interview if he would support ultimately seating nominating delegates from the two states that he had punished for leapfrogging the primary calendar, the Democratic National Committee chairman said, "You want everybody on board." And he went on to announce that the delegate dispute "will be revisited by a credentials committee not controlled by me."

In other words, a bruising convention-eve credentials fight is brewing - which means that Florida and Michigan, the states once derided as meaningless, could actually put Hillary Rodham Clinton over the top in the final delgate count.

It never did make sense to strip the states of their delegates - a very poor decision in my opinion. The problem is that the decision was made none the less. Candidates changed their tactics regarding the party decision and that effected the outcome. For example - John Edwards and Barack Obama had their names removed from the Michigan ballot.

I said the other day that the only way they could make the delegates count was to hold a primary in those states again. Give each candidate 30 days to campaign in the two states and go from there. If the party decides to just let those delegates in, as they stand, then there is going to be tons of problems for the DNC. As much as I hate to say it, I think race will also be brought into the argument against them, and I can't really deny that argument. The DNC needs to choose very carefully in this decision.

When the DNC decided to strip Michigan and Florida of their delegates, I knew it would open up a bunch of headaches. Now the DNC has some civil rights leaders pushing to reinstate the delegates.

Two civil rights leaders -- one a prominent Obama supporter -- have written DNC Chairman Howard Dean to press him to resolve the looming conflict over Florida's and Michigan's role at the Democratic National Convention, in a letter (.pdf) obtained by Politico.

"We are deeply concerned about the prospect of a Democratic Party convention fight over the seating of delegates elected in the Michigan and Florida primaries," wrote Mary Frances Berry and Roger Wilkins, making pointed reference to "disenfranchisement of Older Americans, Latinos, and African Americans in Florida during the 2000 election and the subsequent issues of disenfranchisement in Ohio and elsewhere in the 2004 election."