Democratic Dele-Gate

- Editor's note: Tanya Amador-Daigle is reporting for Florida Weekly on the national primaries until the presidential candidates are chosen this summer. She has a unique perspective on the primaries and the process for choosing a candidate, having traveled the country reporting on primaries and caucuses for the Purple States project. To learn more about Purple States go to www.purplestates.tv.

It's Saturday night and a lot of Democrats are feeling like they got the short end of the stick. Of course, it was inevitable that someone would get shafted. With Saturdays ruling by the Democratic National Committee on what to do with Florida and Michigan's delegates, it looks like another nail has been put in Hillary Clinton's campaign coffin. Along with that it seems that Democratic Party unity will continue to elude their party.

Although Clinton is now winning the popular vote, she still lacks the delegates she needs to win the nomination of her party. Because of this fact, her campaign was demanding that the delegates be awarded based on the results of each of those states primaries. This would have given her more of the delegates in those states since she won both primaries by a decent margin. In Michigan Clinton earned 55 percent of the vote and 40 percent of Dems voted uncommitted. She also made a strong showing in Florida. In the end, Clinton got 69 delegates in Michigan to Obama's 59, not exactly the resolution she was looking for. In Florida the agreement is to seat the delegates based on the outcome of the primaries in that state. This gives Clinton 105 delegates and Obama 67 in the Sunshine State.

Clinton

Doesn't sound too bad until you take into account that the DNC also decided that the delegate votes will only count for half a vote each. After all, they still need to punish those states Democratic leaders for violating party rules and moving up their primaries. Sorry Hill, I know, I know, the whole thing is a mess and Obama is the lucky beneficiary, but there are higher powers here at work. Gods like Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi are in control and they want "unity" darn it! Besides, Obama DID follow the rules after all. He took his name off the ballot in Michigan and did not campaign there or in Florida. He did what his party told him to do. But guess what? It's their own party that disenfranchised their own voters, not the two candidates.

Obama Unfortunately, it's the Democratic voters who will suffer. After what I saw on the news Saturday, these voters are ticked off. Those who went to Washington to witness the attempt to clean up the chaos readily showed their warranted disgust. Some present chanted "Denver, Denver!" while one audience member yelled "This isn't unity, count all the votes!" According to the Associated Press one person even shouted at a Clinton supporter on the committee, "Lipstick on a pig!" she said. Ouch!

Harold Ickes, Senator Clinton's advisor, had a good point when he sarcastically said, "This body of individuals has decided that they're going to substitute their judgment for 600,000 voters, now that's what I call democracy." As the Democratic National Convention looms less than a mere three months away, Clinton has directed Ickes to reserve the right to take this all the way to the Credentials Committee. If Hillary appeals the decision then unity within the party will likely go out the window. Republicans will benefit from that. Lucky McCain.

McCain In the meantime Clinton is campaigning in Puerto Rico where she is expected to make a good showing. The polls are about to close on the island and two days later the last two states will end the primaries in South Dakota and Montana. Even if she wins these states it won't be enough. So stay seated folks because this will likely go all the way to the convention floor.

Gearing up for what could be a longer fight than anticipated, Senator Obama isn't taking any chances. In an effort to avoid another Reverend Wright controversy he has rightly quit his church. Can't have any more Reverend scandals lurking around with the general election coming up, right? It seems a guest priest at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Rev. Michael Pfleger, had some things to say about Hillary Clinton in a recent sermon. Some pretty inflammatory things, actually. As he wiped the tears from his eyes Pfleger preached from the pulpit, saying "And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama,' "and Clinton said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!'" Do churchgoers really buy into this dramatic pontificating?

I guess we can add another "gate" controversy to the long list of "gates" this country's political history has accumulated. Along with Watergate, Monicagate and Whitewatergate, we now have Democratic Dele-gate.