IMAGINE, IN 2008, WITH ALL OF THE media safeguards and the sophisticated voting technology, the Democratic nomination for president may come down to arcane paper ballots to make the selection … in guess which state — yes, Florida, again. Yogi Berra was right, it may be deja vu all over again, in the Sunshine State, eight years later from the last election fiasco, which the country still has not recovered from. Fresh from her three primary wins in Rhode Island, Texas, and Ohio, a reinvigorated Senator Hillary Clinton is pushing for the delegates that Florida Democrats recently voted for her to be seated at the national convention and have their votes count, thus perhaps giving her the margin needed to win the Democratic nomination. She has gained a very important ally in seeking to allow her delegates to be counted at the national convention — Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Some tactical and neutral observers suggest that Crist’s strange involvement in the Democratic selection process is that Clinton’s nomination would aid his friend and potential running mate Sen. John McCain because most polls show that Clinton would be easier for McCain to beat in the general election, than the delegate leading Sen. Barack Obama.
If Clinton is successful in her venture, will it be the first time that a candidate in a national race has pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat in terms of delegate vote count to earn their party’s nomination? No, there is precedent. For only the most senior of baby boomers, there is memory of the 1952 Republican Convention when General Dwight Eisenhower pulled off a similar coup against Ohio Sen. Robert A. Taft, who was known and beloved by party regulars as “Mr. Republican,” but was seen as dull and unelectable by others in the party. Eisenhower, the conqueror of Germany and supreme commander of NATO, returned to the United States from Europe with the backing of New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey and Massachusetts Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge and expected to sweep the primaries. Yet many of the party’s old guard loved and revered Taft. In Texas, and several other southern states, the local parties awarded the delegates to Taft despite the fact that Eisenhower had won the popular vote in a way the party did not consider legitimate. At the Chicago convention, things looked bleak for Eisenhower unless he could change the rules and have the delegates seated. Lodge and Dewey, with help from California’s Sen. Richard M. Nixon, used the terms “Fair Play” and “Thou Shall Not Steal,” and the argument that Taft could not win (something we hear the Clintons saying about Obama’s chances against McCain) and with assistance from some favorite son candidates overturned the rules, thus nominating Eisenhower.
So, the feisty and determined Clinton machine charges forward,“taking no prisoners” and remembering the Eisenhower precedent. Perhaps her relentless campaign tactics are intended to be a refection of her presidency, if she did in fact get that 3 a.m. call in the White House.
If there is re-vote, Floridians are well aware that there are no surplus state funds available for such a $20 million election. As Gov. Crist said, the state has already paid for one election that had a record turn out and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, while saying a re-vote might be a good idea, the DNC can’t afford to pay for the re-vote. So if most of the powers that be — Sen. Clinton, Republican Gov. Crist (and we can assume Sen. McCain), and Sen. Obama, if only by his silence — want the Florida delegates to be able to vote, what are the available options? Most observers do favor a re-vote of some kind. Since no one is offering up the required money, probably the only realistic option is a mail, paper vote. Talk about Florida again cornering the national and international headlines for another critical presidential election. One has to wonder why the Sunshine State can’t seem to get this thing called voting, right?
One observer recently said why have an election every four years? Why not make it easy, less trouble and simply let Florida decide the election? It will be the same result anyway, with Florida being the final decision maker in the election.
BOB MCKNIGHT is a former state senator and state representative from Florida, and the author of “The Golden Years.” More information can be obtained at www.bobmcknight.com.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 25, 2008. Read the original PDF.