Biggus caucus

Hey, remember that "meaningless" primary in which we Floridians voted a week ago Tuesday? And remember how I said it would count for seating delegates (which would help Hillary Clinton, who won a large majority of votes here)? Well, I'm probably still right ... but there is some hint of change taking place for both Florida and Michigan.

Evidently the DNC, whose asinine rule got us into this mess in the first place (yes, I know the Legislature did it, but no rule, no mess), is pushing America's Wang™ and Michigan (America's Mitten™?) to hold caucuses in order to seat the delegates ... which would make our efforts on January 29 truly meaningless.

DNC member Debbie Dingell of Michigan said it's unclear whether either state would hold caucuses since they've already held primaries, Michigan on Jan. 15 and Florida on Jan. 29. She said the committee is asking the states to consider such a plan.

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said the party has no intention of holding another election.

"We've said all along that we're going forward with our delegate selection program using the vote on Jan. 29," he said. "We've got more delegate applications than ever."

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said the committee isn't saying anything it hasn't said before to Michigan and Florida.

"Everybody involved, the candidates, the DNC and we, need to remain open-minded. So if someone comes up with a creative way that meets everyone's interests, we can do that" and get the delegates seated, he said.

As big a mancrush as I admittedly have on DNC chair Howard Dean, even I have to admit that this is getting ridiculous. If there's a way for the DNC to fuck things up even worse than they already have, this might be it.

And the bigger problem is that regardless of what ultimately happens, the discussion itself could fracture the Democratic Party even further. The dispute, if one exists, will pit the pro-primary folks, who support Clinton, against the pro-caucus people, largely Obama partisans whose favored candidate likely would do well in caucuses.

I'm still uncommitted on which candidate I support at this time, but at present, I believe we've made our bed and we ought to lie in it. The votes have been cast and the delegates have been selected. As I've said all along, it's going to be up to the eventual nominee to determine whether delegates from Florida and Michigan are credentialed and seated in Denver, and no nominee would refuse to seat them. So, ultimately, I think it's a moot point.

At any rate, the issue threatens to exacerbate a bad situation. I'm all for fighting Republicans and the Bush crime syndicate, but can we please stop eating our own first?