Carter: Michigan and Florida Should Not Be Counted
BURBANK, Calif. — Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that delegates from Florida and Michigan should not be counted at the Democratic National Convention because they “disqualified themselves,” and he warned of a disaster if party insiders try to wrest the nomination from the candidate with the largest number of votes and state victories.
An attempt by so-called Democratic superdelegates to override the popular vote “would be an almost unacceptable thing,” Carter told Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.”
If a candidate has a clear edge in votes, state-by-state wins and delegates claimed at caucuses and primaries, “I can’t imagine that the superdelegates would go against them,” Carter said. “It would be a catastrophe for the party.”
Carter’s comments came a day after the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, in which Barack Obama padded his delegate lead over Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the tight race the judgment of superdelegates — elected officials and party insiders who can vote as they like at the party’s August nominating convention — will almost certainly be decisive.
The former president appeared eager at first to steer clear of the disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida, saying their delegations “ought to be seated — for sure — in 2012.”
But when pressed by Leno if those delegates should participate in 2008, Carter said, “No, they disqualified themselves.”
The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates — a total of 366 — after the two states violated party rules and scheduled early primaries. Clinton and Obama agreed not to campaign in either state, and Obama joined other candidates in removing their names from Michigan’s ballot. Clinton won both primaries and wants the results to be recognized.
Carter, a superdelegate, has not expressed a preference in the race but has hinted at his leanings.
“My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama,” he told reporters in Nigeria last month. “As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess.”
When will he decide?
“The first week in June,” Carter told Leno, after the final primaries are over.
The Democratic Party needs a total make-over, it’s rules are archaic and confusing. Caucuses are not a good idea in any democratic election. The obvious concerns of associations with radical and militant leaders like Obama has needs to be considered and picking a candidate who does not have such ties would be more beneficial to the country. It seems if you have sex as an issue, like Gary Hart had, you are unacceptable, however, it is okay to be friends with radical militants in the eyes of the Democratic Party.