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Democracts to rule on primaries ban

May 31 2008

Democracts to rule on primaries ban

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By Agencies

The decision by the 30-member rules and by-laws committee could boost Clinton's candidacy [AFP]

The US Democratic party has begun a meeting which could put Hilary Clinton back in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

Hundreds of Clinton's supporters rallied outside the meeting in Washington on Saturday, calling for disbarred election delegates from Michigan and Florida to be reinstated.

Some protesters carried placards that read "Every vote counts".

The two states were punished for moving their primaries forward to January, against Democratic party rules, by having their delegates barred from the party convention in August that will decide the presidential nominee.

Clinton won primaries in both states and if the delegates votes were to be counted she could receive a boost to her election bid.

But she faces an uphill battle, with the Democrat's 30-member rules and by-laws committee panel to win her demand that delegations be seated at the convention in Denver later this year with full voting rights.

'Every vote counts'

Clinton signed a pledge along with the other candidates not to campaign in either state, and Barack Obama, the Democratic frontrunner, took his name off the Michigan ballot.

After winning both contests, Clinton began to press for the results to be recognised.

Obama has said he is willing to compromise in hopes of unifying the party and moving on to the general election campaign against John McCain, the Republican candidate.

The panel will hear challenges from Florida seeking to seat half of the pledged convention delegates and all of the state's superdelegates.

A challenge from Michigan asks the panel to give 69 pledged delegates to Clinton and 59 to Obama.

Advisory memo

Democratic National Committee lawyers sent an advisory memo to the committee suggesting it was within its rights to strip the states of their delegates and taking issue with Clinton's plan to seat the delegations.

The committee, which has 13 Clinton supporters on it, is free to arrive at its own solution.

Members have said they want to be fair to both campaigns and mindful of the need to follow party rules to prevent a mad rush of states to hold contests earlier and earlier in the process.

Even if the delegates from Michigan and Florida are reinstated, it is likely that Clinton will still lag more than 100 delegates behind Obama with the nomination in the hands of less than 200 undecided superdelegates.