Sunday 24 August 2008: At the request of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic National Convention's Credentials Committee has voted to restore full voting strength to the Michigan and Florida delegations. The panel approved the full seating of these two states with neither debate nor opposing votes. This brings the dispute to a close.

Sunday 3 August 2008: Reports state that Democratic nominee apparent Senator Barack Obama has asked the Democratic National Convention's Credentials Committee to restore Florida and Michigan to a "full vote" when it meets on 24 August.

This 13 June 2008 Miami Herald report states that the Obama campaign may replace some Florida delegates, who have already been designated to attend the National Convention, with Obama supporters.

Saturday 31 May 2008: Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting

The Committee will consider two challenges to the seating of the Florida and Michigan Delegations. Proposals from Michigan State University Trustee Joel Ferguson and Florida party official Jon Ausman will be heard.

A motion to restore the Florida Delegation to 50% of the its pledged delegate votes and 50% of its unpledged delegate votes was passed by the Democratic Rules and Bylaws Committee-- 27 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention. This gives Clinton 52.5, Obama 33.5, Edwards 6.5 pledged delegates.

Commentary Friday 30 May 2008
WEEKEND WARRIORS
Battles over Florida and Michigan shadow
the electoral battle in Puerto Rico
by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

The seating of these delegations is discussed in our commentary series "THEATRE OF THE POLITICALLY ABSURD ... The Relationship between State Law and Party Rules and the 'Punishing' of the former where violative of the latter" by Richard E. Berg-Andersson TheGreenPapers.com Staff

• Sunday March 16, 2008 (PART ONE)
• Wednesday March 19, 2008 (PART TWO)
• Thursday March 20, 2008 (PART THREE)

"Vox Populi" ('Letters to the Editor' on this website) in response to the above pieces were those dated

• Saturday March 22, 2008
• Friday, March 28, 2008
• Friday, April 4, 2008

2 April 2008 update: Dean: Dems Will Seat Fla. Delegates

Certified FLORIDA PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY returns from an official source.

Officially, Florida has no delegates. For that reason, our "soft" and "hard" tallies are set to 0.

Assuming that the Florida delegation is seated (our "Alternate Count"), here's how we estimate the delegate count (based on certified returns from an official source):

1. A candidate must receive 15% or more of the total popular vote to qualify for delegates. Discard votes cast for those candidates who do not qualify. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama have qualified for delegates.
2. Allocate Congressional District delegates from the qualified vote in each district. Allocate Pledged PLEO and At-Large delegates using the state-wide qualified vote.
3. In each jurisdiction (CD and statewide):
1. Total qualified vote = total votes cast for the qualifying candidates in the jurisdiction.
2. Allocation = (delegates for the jurisdiction) × (candidate's popular vote) ÷ (total qualified vote).
3. Assign each candidate the WHOLE NUMBER of delegates.
4. If delegates remain, allocate each of the remaining delegates to those candidates with the LARGEST REMAINDERS.

According to the 14 and 15 May 2008 articles below, 2 Edwards pledged delegates intend to cast their ballots for Obama. Accordingly, we have changed our Alternative Soft Total count from Clinton 113, Obama 72, Edwards 13 to Clinton 113, Obama 74, Edwards 11. The Alternative Soft Total assumes that delegates from Florida will actually be seated at the National Convention.

15 May 2008: The PalmBeachPost.com reports that Linda Spisak of Hobe Sound (CD 16), who is pledged to John Edwards, says she will support Obama at the National Convention.

14 May 2008: quinnell.us reports that E. Alan Brock (CD 2), who is pledged to Edwards, made the following statement: "I am choosing to pledge my vote for Obama. I believe he is our presumptive nominee, and Democrats, especially in Florida, cannot waste any more time on the primary. We have to move on to the general election. If we rally together, we will win Florida".

The 31 May 2008 meeting of the Democratic RBC decided to seat the full Florida delegation at 50% of their delegate votes based on the results of the 5 February 2008 primary. The agreed upon breakdown was Clinton 52.5, Obama 33.5, Edwards 6.5. On Monday 2 June 2008 Tony Roza telephoned the Florida Democratic Party and was told that at the current time, the delegates, as presently elected, would attend the National Convention. However, the decision by the RBC gives the candidates the right of approval so there can be changes. Two of the Edwards delegates previously announced they had switched to Obama. Accordingly we are adding 2 * 0.5 = 1 to our Obama soft count and subtracting 1 from our Edwards soft count. Our 2 June 2008 soft pledged count is Clinton 52.5, Obama 34.5, Edwards 5.5 and our alternative count (not including unpledged delegates) is Clinton 105, Obama 69, Edwards 11.

According to the 3 June 2008 report below, 1 Edwards pledged delegate intends to cast his ballot for Obama. Accordingly we are adding 1 * 0.5 = 0.5 to our Obama soft count and subtracting 1 from our Edwards soft count. Our 3 June 2008 soft pledged count is Clinton 52.5, Obama 35, Edwards 5 and our alternative count (not including unpledged delegates) is Clinton 105, Obama 70, Edwards 10.

3 June 2008: TampBay.com reports that Fred K. McDowell of Leesburg (CD 5) who was elected as a pledged Edwards delegate wrote to the Florida Democratic Party stating "I am pleased to inform you that I will follow Sen. Edwards' desires and pledge my support and delegate vote to Senator Obama".

3 June 2008: The Obama Campaign today announced that the following 8 delegates (each casting 0.5 vote) pledged to former Senator John Edwards have committed to vote for Senator Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

Joseph Beuttenmuller, Lake Mary
Barry Birdwell, Melbourne Beach
E. Alan Brock, Crawfordville
Deborah Courtney, Jacksonville
Rita Ferrandino, Sarasota
Fred McDowell, Leesburg
Mary Mooney, Crawfordville
Linda Spisak, Hobe Sound
Gregory Shimkaveg, Oviedo
Bill Vincent, Gulf Breeze

Unpledged delegates as of
29 January 2008: Clinton: 5, Obama: 2
31 January 2008: Clinton: 6, Obama: 2
16 February 2008: Clinton: 7, Obama: 3
24 February 2008: Clinton: 7, Obama: 4
29 February 2008: Clinton: 8, Obama: 4
7 May 2008: Clinton: 8, Obama: 5
Former DNC Chairman Kenneth Curtis, a Distinguished Party Leader, has moved from Maine to Florida. The total number of delegate votes from Florida, assuming the delegation is fully seated, is 211.
2 June 2008: Clinton: 8, Obama: 6
3 June 2008: Clinton: 9, Obama: 9
6 June 2008: Clinton: 7, Obama: 13
18 June 2008: Clinton: 6, Obama: 14
(the delegates are listed as having 0.5 vote in our "Soft" tally [sanctions are assumed] and as 1 vote our "Alternative" tally [no sanctioned assumed]).

Refernce: Delegate Selection to the 2008 Democratic National Convention

FLORIIDA DELEGATE SELECTIION & AFFIIRMATIIVE ACTIION PLAN FOR THE 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION ISSUED BY THE: FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY 214 SOUTH BRONOUGH STREET TALLAHASSEE, FL 32301 WWW.FLADEMS.COM JUNE 2007 Last revised: June 13, 2007