Mar 6, 2008 12:25 pm US/Eastern
Gov. Crist To DNC: "Seat Our Delegates"
UNDATED (CBS4) ―
Florida Governor Charlie Crist is fighting for the rights of Florida voters and went on "CNN's American Morning" to say that every vote in the state deserves to be heard.
Gov. Crist, a Republican, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, have called on the Democratic National Committee to seat their states' delegations. They accused the party of silencing "the voices of 5,163,271 Americans" who voted in their primaries.
"I want the next president to be a Republican. But I feel for my fellow Floridians who are Democrats and their voice should be heard as much as anybody else's. I'm the governor for all of the people of Florida and I want to make sure that democracy matters. And that whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent, if you live in Florida, I want to make sure that your vote counts," said Gov. Crist on CNN Thursday morning.
The national Democratic Party stripped Florida and Michigan of its delegates to the national convention after the states moved up the dates of their primary elections.
Crist says the issue is about fairness but Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman, told "CNN's American Morning" that the timing is off when it comes to holding new primaries in Florida and Michigan.
"We actually offered to help the Democratic party in Florida a long time ago. They turned us down. Now unfortunately that time is gone. We have to focus our resources on winning and on John McCain who yesterday promised to give us four more years of George Bush and Iraq and so forth and so our job is to elect a president of the United States and we're not going to have resources to run a primary in Michigan or Florida," said Dean.
Party officials said they will not pay for Florida to hold a new primary.
When asked about people who didn't vote in Florida on January 29th because they were told it wouldn't count, Crist responded, "People turned out in droves, irrespective of what party bosses in Washington, DC said. They cared about exercising their precious right to vote. And they did it in record numbers. They did it on January 29th and those votes should be counted, those delegates should be seated. And I believe that cooler heads will prevail. I think at the end of the day common sense will be the order of the day and those delegates will be seated."
A re-vote in both states could help break a possible Democratic deadlock over who to nominate. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain neck and neck and it looks like neither candidate will get the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
However, DNC Chairman Howard Dean said Florida and Michigan both knew the rules and agreed to them and also set the record straight when it comes to the viability of a re-vote in both states.
"That depends on Florida and Michigan. The rules were set a year and a half ago. Florida and Michigan voted for them and then decided that they didn't need to abide by the rules. When you're in a contest, you need to abide by the rules. Everybody has to play by the rules out of respect for the campaigns and other 48 states. So, Florida and Michigan basically have two choices. They can come back to the DNC with a set of delegate procedures that comply with the rules of the 48 other states or they can appeal to the credentials committee the democratic national convention. That's their choice."
If Florida and Michigan count, their delegates could put either candidate over the top. The states have 366 pledged delegates and superdelegates between them.
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