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Mar 18, 2008 12:03 am US/Eastern
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Florida Democrats Say No to Re-Vote
Click Here To Read The PDF File Of The Democrat Revote Plan
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
The Florida Democratic Party says it will not hold a second presidential primary to resolve the delegate dispute with the Democratic National Committee.
The national party punished Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates. The two states have since been struggling to come up with alternative plans to ensure their delegates are seated at the national convention this summer in Denver.
Michigan held its primary Jan. 15 and Florida voted Jan. 29. Clinton won both, although she was the only major candidate on the Michigan ballot.
On Thursday, Florida Democrats proposed a vote-by-mail presidential primary while acknowledging the plan's chances are slim.
Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, offered a mail-in/in person proposal for voting and urged state leaders, the national party and the presidential candidates to sign on. The estimated cost was $10 million to $12 million.
Members of Florida's congressional delegation reiterated their opposition to the plan, saying, "We do not believe that this is a realistic option at this time and remain opposed to a mail-in ballot election or any new primary election in Florida of any kind."
Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, an Obama backer, said supporters of both candidates and those in the delegation who are uncommitted are working on an alternative to get the delegates seated. He said an option would be to find middle ground in the number of delegates that Obama and Clinton get.
Clinton has said the delegates should be awarded according to the results of Florida's Jan. 29 election, which she won. Some Obama supporters have suggested splitting the delegates evenly since the candidates agreed not to campaign in the state since it violated party rules by going too early.
"There's a high demand by one candidate and a low demand by the other, and somewhere in between is a resolution," Wexler said. "So that's what we're trying to figure out."
Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida's senior Democrat and a Clinton backer, said one option that ought to be considered would be to award delegates based on the January vote, but have them count for half the delegates of other states.
However, Obama's campaign said they will not support any plan that allocates delegates based on the January vote.
Nelson said he discussed the issue with Obama and Clinton on the Senate floor Thursday.
"I've been saying, `You guys have got to get this thing resolved.' And they both have said to me that they intend to get the Michigan and Florida delegation seated at the convention," he said. "But the devil's in the details."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)