Politics

Ideas floated for Democratic redo

Have a plan for a Florida Democratic redo? You're not alone.

By Jennifer Liberto, Wes Allison and Adam Smith
Published March 8, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Gov. Charlie Crist said he would consider a "blend" of private dollars and taxpayer dollars to pay for a vote-by-mail election.

The Democrats can't figure a way out of their presidential primary mess, so maybe the Republicans can help them out.

Adding confusion to a process already beset with it, Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday reopened the door for taxpayers to help fund a do-over mail-in Democratic primary run by the state. Democrats variously dismissed it as a Crist publicity grab, a crafty way to weaken the Democratic contenders, or a potentially nifty idea.

Meanwhile some state legislators are toying with a hardball tactic to try to force the national Democratic Party to seat Florida's delegates: pass a law that says any party that doesn't seat delegates based on Florida's Jan. 29 primary doesn't get to have its nominee on the November ballot.

"The danger is, based on the general maturity level of the national party, they are more interested in protecting their authority than winning the election. They may not care," said state Senate Democratic leader Steve Geller.

The ballot idea has dubious political and legal prospects, but it's a sign of the lack of consensus over how to get Florida Democrats' voices counted in a presidential primary possibly headed toward a convention deadlock.

As it stands, Florida and Michigan will have no delegates seated for the August convention as punishment for scheduling primaries earlier than allowed by the national party.

"If you have Floridians who are being disenfranchised, that's just not right," Crist said.

Democrats divided

When it comes to dealing with their primary mess, divided Democrats nationally and in Florida are reading from countless conflicting scripts. Amid their leadership vacuum, Florida's Republican governor has happily stepped into the media spotlight.

His offer to help Florida Democrats is infuriating some of them.

"If Gov. Crist really wants to make some news, he ought to stop offering up improbable ideas for the Democratic primary instead of dealing with the state's Republican recession as a governor should," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said.

But U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida's senior elected Democrat, said Friday that he was encouraged by Crist's offers to help and said he would support a primary by mail that's run by the state.

"The enemy here is time. We're going to run out of time if we don't get going pretty quick," said Nelson.

Revote costly

There are no easy answers for getting Florida's 211 delegates and Michigan's 156 restored.

The DNC steadfastly refuses to seat delegates based on the results of the January primaries. Holding new statewide primaries appears prohibitively expensive - as much as $25-million for Florida. Regional caucuses are off the table in Florida because voter participation is low. The most plausible option is a vote-by-mail election, which could cost as little as $4-million.

But the state Democratic Party doesn't have the money, and neither does the national party. Crist said he would consider a "blend" of private dollars and taxpayer dollars, but Bubriski said the state party opposes public money for the election when education and health care face funding cuts.

Other legislative leaders suggest public funding of another primary is off the table.

"I can't save the Democratic Party from Howard Dean," said state House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami. "Democrats voted, a lot of them voted. They voted and Hillary Clinton won. And those delegates should be seated. The only thing standing between Florida and its delegates being seated is not the Florida Legislature. It's Howard Dean."

No agreement

Democratic leaders disagree on whether the party or state should run a second primary, on whether a mail election makes sense, and on whether such an election requires legislative approval.

Even within the Clinton camp, there's no agreement on whether Florida should push for another election to comply with the DNC. Nelson, a Clinton supporter, backs the idea. But U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Broward County, a national co-chair of the Clinton campaign, called it "totally unworkable.

"I am not aware that either the national party, the state party or the two campaigns have the ability or the resources to run a do-over, and a do-over in this case is absolutely inappropriate," she said.

State House and Senate Democratic leaders say they could support a mail-in ballot redo. But House Democratic leader Dan Gelber says the state should stay out of it and Senate Democratic leader Geller thinks the state would have to get involved to "ensure the integrity."

"I don't like the mail-in ballot idea, but it may prove the best of a lot bad options," Geller said.

Approval not needed

The idea of a state-supervised mail-ballot vote grew out of a conversation Crist had Wednesday with Sen. Nelson. "We were chatting, and saying, what can we do to resolve this?" Crist recalled. He and Nelson both support the state overseeing the election, as Crist put it, "to preserve the integrity of it and be sure it's done right."

Even though Dean has said the DNC won't pay for a revote, Crist said Democratic Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm made the point to him that "there might be some wealthy individual out there who may have an interest in doing so."

Nelson said Florida doesn't technically need the candidates' approval - if the state holds a binding primary, they essentially would have to participate or risk losing the delegates. "But just think how much easier it is if you have the candidates willing to go along with this, instead of throwing up roadblocks," Nelson said.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wouldn't say if the campaign would be willing to contribute to new elections.

"If there are remedies that the DNC approves of ... or an additional contest, we're obviously going to abide by" it, Plouffe said.

He also said the campaigns shouldn't be saddled with trying to negotiate solutions. "We're in a fierce contest. This is something for the DNC and the state parties to arbitrate."

Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Alex Leary contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or 727893-8241.

[Last modified March 8, 2008, 08:31:12]