Now, here is an elegant way out of the standoff on the Democrats’ boycott (and Hillary’s quasi-boycott) of Michigan and Florida due to their unauthorized early primaries. From the Caucus:
Democrats in Florida and Michigan are increasingly concerned that their primaries, held in January, will not factor into the nomination fight between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democratic National Committee stripped delegates from both states after they violated party rules by moving up their primary dates.
The states have two options. They can petition a party committee to reinstate the delegates, a decision that would go also before all of the delegates at the Democratic convention in August. Or the two states can, in essence, vote anew, by holding caucuses this spring and assigning the delegates to the winner.[...]
Some Democrats in Michigan have begun saying that the national party is pressuring them to hold a caucus, but party officials deny that.
Obviously, Hillary, who won the beauty contests in Michigan and Florida, who hasn’t done well in caucuses, and who is getting press currently for being in a cash crunch, doesn’t seem to be a fan.
Obama, who’s having recent success on the fundraising front, and who honored the boycott and didn’t even appear on the ballot in Michigan, would presumably favor the idea.
Personally, while I’m aware of the perceived unfairness of having to “vote again” in those states, it does clean up nicely the headache raised by the DNC choosing to strip both states of their delegates due to voting too early. And, considering how they wanted to be early for the added media and candidate attention…a revote or a caucus would seem to be the best of all worlds.