Obama wants Michigan, Florida, in unity overture to Bill Clinton

2008-08-04 19:04:05 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Top Stories)

Washington, D.C. (WiredPRNews.com) — The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama urged his party’s credential committee this Sunday to give full vote to state delegations of Michigan and Florida. It is a move which could heal lingering divisions with former rival, Hilary Clinton who was narrowly defeated.

In a letter released by his campaign, Obama stated he believed the “’party unity calls for the delegates from Florida and Michigan to be able to participate fully alongside the delegates from the other states and territories.”

Clinton immediately responded to this letter and called it “the right position” for democrats. She had advocated strongly seating the full-delegations along with their absolute votes at convention from August 25- 28 in Denver. She won in both states but the votes were barred originally because Florida and Michigan had defied the time plan set by national party for the primary elections.

Towards the end of the month of May, compromises were made by the ruling party giving them half of the normal power of voting and some of the Michigan votes of Clinton to Obama. The supporters of Clinton along with her adviser, Harold Ickes, severely criticized the ruling calling saying it would “hijack” this democratic process.

It is not clear whether the move implied that there will be a full round of voting at the convention allowing the delegates who are committed to the candidates apart from Obama to cast their votes. This Obama campaign has not answered questions posed on this issue from the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Some of the supporters of Clinton who are disgruntled have complained against Obama that he may try to avoid the state-by-state balloting. They believe that he may arrange for himself to be nominated by acclimation in efforts to show this party unity.

Wired Government Reporter