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Monday, March 10, 2008
Hanging mailman, here we come
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hard to imagine that Democratic presidential politics could get any more bizarre, but party leaders are now suggesting a Florida re-vote with the primary being conducted by the U.S. Postal Service.
A mail-in primary is “actually a very good process,” said DNC Chairman Howard Dean on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Every voter gets a ballot in the mail. It’s comprehensive. You get to vote if you’re in Iraq or in a nursing home. It’s not a bad way to do this.”
The party is desperate, of course, to get out of the box it’s in. Hillary won Florida, and Michigan too for that matter, and has a legitimate claim to the 313 delegates. The national party withheld delegates because the two states elected to vote earlier than the national party wanted. Barack Obama chose not to have his name listed on the Michigan ballot. The choice there was either Hillary or uncommitted. Hillary won — but not by a landslide.
Who pays for a re-do, which would cost an estimated $6 million? The party, for sure, with money Dean says it needs for the fall campaign against John McCain. Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has made it plain that the state won’t bail out the Dems.
Michigan’s Democratic Sen. Carl Levin noted Sunday that “There’s some real problems” with a mail-in ballot. “Not just cost, but the security issue. How do you make sure that hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more ballots can be properly counted and that duplicate ballots can be avoided?”
Hanging chads, hanging mailman, here we come. Republicans really should not get too down about their prospects in November. Watching Democrats in Congress and in politics offers some reassurance that the party will over-play or misplay every advantage.
And that’s good for the country. Can anybody really imagine Barack Obama as commander in chief?
