As a Floridian, I am content with Saturday's decision by the DNC and consider the matter closed. [View All]

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Some of you may know that my only focus on this board has been in regard to the Florida primary vote. That as someone who is not involved in the campaigns of either of the two remaining Democratic candidates, I only wanted to see to the fact that my vote, along with 1.7 million others, counted something towards selecting the nominee of my party.

I was very upset with the DNC's initial decision to strike all the delegates from my state and effectively making my vote worthless. And while there were some who insisted ad nauseum that I should have just sat and taken my "punishment" (for voting?) and simply "be angry" at state officials (without further recompense for getting my vote counted), I knew that the DNC had overstepped its authority in ordering what was in effect a collective punishment on all Florida voters for something that was simply a dispute between national and state Democratic leaders over a primary date.

Saturday was the big day to correct the DNC's error in judgment. And when the dust had settled and all was said and done, I feel confident the right thing was done and that it was time to consider the matter closed and now to look forward to November.

Note, I don't necessarily think it was ideal. Ideally, I would have loved to have seen the delegates seated on my behalf been able to cast full votes, and leave the intraparty dispute between federal and state leaders out of the equation entirely. But this solution was good enough to assuage the situation. Face it, the delegate nomination process is not one-person-one-vote anyways. People living in larger states will be given a larger weight for their vote. All Florida really got was something of a downgrade in influence to a state the size of, say, North Carolina. And that's not enough to say I am being disenfrachised at this point. In the end, I'd like to see both the delegate system and the electoral college abolished in favor of a straight popular vote. But given that both systems are still the law of the party and law of the land, respectively, I've got to learn to live with them and accept the fact that we do not yet have a one-person-one-vote process in determining either the nomination or the general election.

I will say that I am very, very proud of my own congressman, Robert Wexler. I have no doubt that he was instrumental in getting the Obama campaign to endorse the 50% reduction solution as opposed to championing the inane 0% collective punishment or any sort of foolish 50/50 delegate split that was not proportional to the results or taking to mind any other candidates. This was not a concession by any means; this was the simply the right thing to do. Wexler's actions may have very well saved Florida for Senator Obama in November, and I personally think he should be considered when a President Obama is contemplating building a cabinet.

At this point, I still do not understand the logic of anyone who is still claiming the 0% delegate punishment foisted upon Florida was the right thing to do and should have never been reversed, but the fact of the matter the DNC did the right thing on Saturday renders their thinking moot and meaningless, and I give them no further credibility in pressing the issue.

Last but not least, I know that some here have made considerable hay about the actions of some in the audience on Saturday, some of which I personally did also find rather disruptive and counterproductive. However, personally I must say I still have seen much, much, much worse on this very board under the guise of anonymous posting. Regardless, I do not see any of this as a major issue. By the middle to end of this week, after all states have voted (and after all states' votes have been counted), I think we will have a single presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, that bygones will be made bygones, that the healing process will have started and we will all be looking forward to the race against Senator McCain in the general election.

As I said before, Saturday, I felt very proud to be a Floridian. Saturday, I felt very proud to be a Democrat.

To November and to electing a Democratic President!
:toast: