CNN

The logical, middle-ground solution to this problem is a caucus, which is much less costly than a primary and could be paid for fairly easily if both campaigns, the DNC, and the state chipped in just a little over $1M each. The only reason this solution has been disregarded is because of the Clinton name and Hillary's complaints over the caucus system. That's a fair criticism, but if you have to choose between the status quo (counting none of the delegates), a caucus (a feasible, fund-able option which may or may not favor Obama), and a primary (which is unfeasible given the lack of funds, meaning it's not an option at all), it's a no-brainer. The mail-in ballots may also work, but no one seems to know how much it will cost, so it is not yet an option until someone can come up with an estimate.

If the focus is really on not "disenfranchising the poor voters", then the choice for a caucus is clear as it is both feasible and the people in these states will have an opportunity to vote. However, that clearly has not been the focus of this whole debate - everyone seems intent on giving Hillary as much of a boost as possible under whatever system is chosen instead of making sure the voters will count, which is what we're supposedly after. If her name wasn't "CLINTON" and had she not complained so vehemently about the caucus system to date, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

There's something very fishy going on here.

If the Democrats end up disenfranchising their constituents in Florida and Michigan in the primaries, the people will be so disgusted that these huge states will go to the Republicans in November.

After the ostentatious failure of the Bush administration, the next election should be a shoe-in for the Democrats, yet they seem to be doing everything in their power to bungle the job. Between the endless in-house bickering, the racially divisive campaigning and the suspect electoral procedures that stink of fraudulence...what else could they possibly do wrong? It's as if they are intentionally trying to lose, and for the life of me I don't understand why.

Lets think about this for a second, this was the fault of the party officials in each state that caused this problem. I do believe the people of Michigan and Florida should be heard, it wasn't their fault that their officials were stupid, but now they should have to pay to redo the elections. I believe that the DNC should not pay for this and the states be held responsible! If they cannot afford to pay for a new election, then the people must blame those responsible in their state. lets also hear WHO we are talking about in each State so we know who to blame.

This voting system does not belong in the 21st century. This is the first time I saw the wholesale graft involved trying to acquire delegate votes. This should not exist . The vote of the american people is the only vote that should be counted, not delegate votes devised to sway the vote to the choice that the party thinks would be best. The party's idea to have candidates remove their names from the ballots of these two states was incorrect, after all the primary is a voting process to elect the candidate for the president of the US. If there are no names on the ballot, who were the voters to elect, thus denying them their vote. Obama made a bad choice in removing his name in protest. This was a time for change, he should have been there for the voters, instead of this archaic system. Hillary stayed for the voters and has been called a cheater. She said she was for change and indicated this by her action. The solution for the Michigan & Florida delegate votes, and costing no money at all is to cancel all the delegate votes and let the vote of the american people be counted as it already stands and give back honesty to our voting system. We need one set primary day throughout the states, not all these different dates & have the debates on tv were everyone can view them. I don't need to meet them, I want to know what they are about. There is no reason why so much money should be involved. There would be more candidates to choose from.

It looks like CNN is ready to pay for it. do you think that mail in vote is quite easy? there is only way to solve this problem.split the delegates 50-50 for two candidates. No way to to mail in revote.

For the good of the party and our country, Hillary should be President and Obama should be Vice President. Hillary is more experienced and knowledgeable about the issues, especially foreign affairs, the economy, and health care. With his recent lies on Nafta/Canada and
his advisers telling the British Press that he is "only taking a hard line on withdrawl through the election", it is quite obvious Obama lacks the leadership and judgment skills to be Commander in Chief.
Plus, McCain will demolish him on those issues in the Fall. Obama is not even in command of the troops on his campaign. It really is the best of both worlds, Hillary is President for 8 years; and then Obama, who will be ready by then, will be president for 8 years. We will have
16 years of Democrat leadership in the White House

That's got voter fraud written all over it!

As a Michigan voter who voted, 'just in case my vote would count", I am furious with my state and the DNC. Clearly, I am now convinced that politicians live in a bubble of self-aggrandizement and not for the people. "The People" were not considered, nor asked when our state decided to break the rules. How dare you, the almighty party, of "THE PEOPLE". Yes, remember us, we voted you in. Secondly, in all fairness to "The People", we need to have a fair election here. Also, just when I was surrending to the Obama phenomenon, the man who claims to be for the people isn't speaking up for the voters of these two states. Shame on you....who we truly are is always revealed over time. Is this how you would run the White House, or would you just occupy the space.

In my opinion Flrida and Michigan decided to buck the rules because of shear arrogance. What the DNC needs to do is seat them and split the delegates 50-50. This will set a tone in the future that if you make an agreement and then break it there will be REAL consequences. What REALLY should happen is the people of Florida and Michigan need to make sure they don't reelect the knuckleheads that made the decision to break the original agreement with the DNC....NOBODY seems to be talking about this. I live in Michigan.

Anything but caucus, in Wyoming less then 9000 people decided for the whole state, how can this be fair. It is hard enough to get people to the polls much less stand around for hours. Only young people with nothing else to do can stand around for hours, maybe that's why Obama wins them, suppose?

If the Democratic party hopes to win in the fall, they better work out a redo of the primary elections for MIchigan and Florida. It needs to be a vote on premises and not mail in and should be limited to Democrats.

Why do we need to redo the primaries in Michigan and Florida? Senator Obama had the option of leaving his name on the Michigan ballot and he chose not to do so. But Senator Obama did have a group titled "Uncommitted" that campaigned against Senator Clinton and the uncommitted group did vote against. In spite of this, Senator Clinton won in Michigan so she gets the majority of the delegates. In Florida, no one campaigned, all the names were on the ballot and Senator Clinton won so she gets the majority of the delegates. I don't understand why we have to waste money on a redo. The voters already voted and chose who they wanted. Some Obama people didn't vote cause they thought their votes would not count. Some Clinton people didn't vote cause they also thought their votes would not count. Divide the delegates according to the percentage that each candidate received and be done with it. (In Michigan, Senator Obama would get the uncommitted's percentage of votes.) Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will both receive delegates. I don't understand why everyone is making this so difficult. If we redo these states, then let's redo other states where one or the other candidate didn't like the results. Howard Dean: Let these states seat the delegates based on the percentage of votes each candidate received during the voting process. The money for a redo would be wasted money. Please seat the delegates according to the percentage of votes received during the primaries in Michigan and Florida. Sometimes it is just best to do the right thing.

The Leaders who made these rules should agree to correct this “insane” rule and let the votes count the first time.

Florida has voted in the Primary. If this truly is a democracy Florida votes should count the first time.

The Primary date changing from January until June “Anytime” before the date of the Democratic Convention should be acceptable.

Who makes these rules? This is taking away Freedoms from Americans! Whoever decided this should step down from the job and the rules need to be corrected.

This really is not American for the votes not to be count the first time!!!!

I don't understand why the delegate count cannot be adjusted down to remove Florida and Michigan, so that the democratic candidate can reach a target number of delegate. It seems to me, that should have been taken into consideration before a state violated the rules,

I think that a mail in vote would lead to a lot of voter fraud and is not the way to go. The elections that were already held were fair and should be counted as they are. Obama took his name off of the ballot in Michigan and then campaigned to have his supporters vote uncomiitted. Obama also ran a national ad that was seen in Florida when the candidates had agreed not to campaign in Florida or Michigan; so if anything, Obama had the advantage in these primaries. The voters of Michigan and Florida who came out in record numbers to vote should not have their votes disenfranchised, they deserve to have their votes counted. Let's quit playing games with our right to vote and let everyone's vote be counted!!

A mail-in vote is an acceptable form for issues which are not all
important OR IF SO, for an a reduced percentaGe of of the totaL vote..

A 100% MAIL-IN IF REALLY THE RESULTS OF FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN COULD DECIDE THE NOMINATION WOULD BE AN INVITATION FOR REAL OR ALLEGED FRAUD AND WOULD CERTAINLY BY CHALLENGED IN COURT.

DOES ANYBODY WANT THIS ???

Has anybody thought that a much simplier way would be:

THE DNC WOULD REQUEST PUBLICLY THE SUPER-DELEGATES TO PLEDGE IMMEDIATELY NOW OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER PENNSYLVANIA TO PLEDGE THEIR VOTE TO THE CANDIDATES.

THEN, THE DNC WILL ASK FORMALLY THE LOSER BY NUMBER OF ELECTED PLUS SUPER DELEGATES TO WITHDRAW !!!

TOM

I am a Floridian and we did have a primary.... Apparently some people don't like the result and want to experiment with a mail in ballot. My comment is, the Republican Governor and a Republican legislation moved up the primary and now. democratic voters have to pay the consequences? I SAY, UNACCEPTABLE!

Everyone else has an opinion........I say give Hillary her 55% of the Florida delegates that she won (115) and give Obama the rest (95). Give Hillary the 50% she won in Michigan (78) and Obama the rest (78). She's still never going to catch him.

If leaving Florida and Michigan out of the mix is so intolerable, why didn't the concerned citizens of Florida and Michigan lobby their Democratic parties BEFORE the primaries? Come on, people. Have we completely lost our capacity for accountability? Having set the rules, the DNC should grow a pair and simply refuse to seat the delegates from these two states.

I can see where this re-vote is going if Obama wins in either of the two states. Hanging chads anyone? Hillary will declare that she deserves yet another re-vote. She will never stop until the win is hers and by hook or by crook......

Hillary agreed to the rules and that should stand. If anyone took the Fla. and Mich. voter's rights away, it was she and the other Democratic candidates by agreeing to the rules months in advance.

the onley reason they are givin michigan/florida trouble is becouse they know obama wont win either one.

It is inaccurate to characterize any forthcoming votes in Michigan and Florida as revotes for the Democratic Primary – they have not held primary elections this year, they held an unsanctioned exercise in futility. There should not be discussion of how to make the existing ballots count, nor a presumption that Clinton has already won these states in any manner. I also wonder if John Edwards and Bill Richardson should still be splitting the vote?

Obama's primary wins are in States which are mostly republican and will more than likely vote for Mccain. Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho
Washington state, Oregon Kansas (Dole country) just for starters.
New York will Vote Mccain because of Bloomberg.
Texas is Republican . Arkansas, Oklahoma , North Carolina
Florida and even California will not vote for Obama, because of Governor Arnold./Shriver. Sen, Obama's record (what there is of it)
will be scrutinized carefully and his inexperience will then be revealed
by his 3 years in the U.S. Senate with no real accomplishments.
Does anyone think the Super Delegates will cast their votes (incase of a deadlock) for Obama? Who's kidding who.

Maybe Florida should be seceded from the union when any national elections roll around sheeezsh! McCain and republicans are loving all of this nonsense.

Easy fix, 50-50. Its fair and costs no one money.

Perhaps CNN should either update the delegate count or star the false numbers they are reporting as news as inaccurate.

How can you "win" anything if the other candidates weren't on the ballot, or someone who was no longer in the race is on the ballot and when people did not vote because they were told it didn't count?

and how much time will they allow the candidates to campaign?

wat can the democratic party not understand.. florida and michigan broke the rules and knew what they were doing.... why r they still trying to find a way to keep their delegates. hello just take away the 331 delegates neeeded to win the nomintaion

Possible only if the counting is monitored and completely fair (e.g., all eligible voters are well aware of the process and deadlines, counting is completely transparent, etc.)

Anything but an all day caucus. Florida should leave the vote as is, both candidates were on the ticket, and only the loser had television ads in Florida.

Ok, why don't they run a caucus or a primary? The argument of doing a mail in or an internet primary is absurd. Neither of these mechanisms for voting have ever been tested and even the casual observer realizes they are processes that can easily be tainted with fraud.

If you can't run a primary due to cost, go with a caucus. Hillary allegedly already won these races, so what is wrong with a caucus. her arguments against caucuses are not only absurd, but also insulting to the voter. Hillary likes to count caucuses in New Hampshire and Nevada, yet has issues when she loses a caucus and claims they are not democratic.

Seriously, get over yourself. If Hillary truly feels she won these contests, the caucus process will have no impact. I like everyone else realize why Hillary is concerned. She knows she can not win a competitive process in these states and realize that a loss in either state will be the nail in her political coffin.

I want to see a Republican Government in Office: In the USA.

So Who care's? Still Imagine a Brand New, Democratic Party!

"American Conservative... Party! To try to Unite the Country. But, as it was,

Hundred years ago... 1909AD.

isn't this going to be more of a mess than the usual voting process? you will then hear about mailing not arriving on the deadline etc.

Sounds like another travesty of a democracy for my state!

Whenever you try to change the rules in the middle ot the game you will have a "train wreck". Rules are made to keep the order. FOLLOW THE RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't believe the Florida and Michigan voting situation has such a complex resolution as some would like us to believe. Take Obama out of the equation, he does have the most delegates, and Hillary becomes the grand prize winner, problem solved. So the DNC needs to stop making excuses and enforce the rules as they stand, I'm not buying into excuses and I'm sure many democrats are not, so let's get on with it, Obama has the most delegates, period, zero.

I wonder why the Democratic Party leaders are allowing this soap opera to continue, fully aware that she has no chance in hell to catch up with Obama.
A ~150 delegate lead in a system that allocates by proportional representation is no narrow margin. The corollary: if it was narrow, she would easily overcome it. Then again, the journalistic body is mostly (with some exception) made of the sector of the student body that is particularly weak in math and not consciousness of doing homework. They would rather repackage campaign propaganda than do their own analyses.
Please spare us more of the blood sport the Clintons’ are playing. I hope that the Obama campaign does not agree to any kind of “re-do” in Michigan and Florida – it is another trap meant to weaken Mr. Obama. While the Democrats would going through a futile exercise of either 1) not change the present course, or 2) reverse the result of the fair process up to this point, the Republicans are defining the message and expectation for the Fall campaign.
Is the Democratic Party such a hostage to the Clintons? This is cutting into muscle.

I DONT THINK CONSIDERING THE WAY EVERYTHING HAS HAPPENED AND THE TOTAL COST OF IT THAT WE CAN HAVE A RE-DO IN FLORIDA. I MEAN WHAT WILL IT BE NEXT, A BEST 2 OUT OF 3. IT WAS AS FAIR AS IT COULD BE IN FLORIDA, NO ONE CAMPAINGED, NO ONE RAN ADS OR VISITED THE STATE. VOTES WERE CAST AND THE DELEGATES SHOULD BE SEATED AS THEY WERE. BUT IN THE MICHIGAN CONTEST, WELL YOU HAVE TO SOMEHOW TRY TO RE-DO IT IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. IT WAS NOT FAIR TO OBAMA AND AT LEAST IT SHOULD BE DONE WHERE EVERYONE WILL HAVE THE SAME CHANCE. I THINK THAT ALL OF THOSE DELEGATES SHOULD BE SEATED THOUGH NO MATTER IF THERE IS A RE-DO OR NOT. YOU CANT JUST TELL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT THERE VOTES DONT COUNT, NO MATTER IF IT WAS COMPLETELY FAIR OR NOT. SO LETS KEEP FLORIDA'S PRIMARY RESULTS AND RE-DO MICHIGANS, AND GET THOSE DELEGATS SEATED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO GET THIS STRAIGHT FAST!!!

Redoing mich. or FL would be against the law any way they do it!

You can not police it and there would be rampant fraud, lawsuits etc.

Well, since all peoples names were on the Florida ballot and over 1.4 million people voted – trust me – they know everyones names and what they stood for at that point in the campaigns. To say that Senator Obama did not campaign there is only a half truth – the rest of the truth is that he did have ads that ran in Florida over the airwaves. Seat the delegates of Florida as they voted!

Now, Michigan – hummmm – and so Senator Clinton left her name on the ballot. Looks like experience to me...and looks like the boys followed by leaving their names on in Florida. Why should Senator Obama be given a second chance at Michigan when it was by his own chosing to remove his name from the ballot. Call it his learning curve from a more experienced Senator Clinton and those votes should also remain as voted. Everyone knew who he was and he had his campaign people there in Michigan voting in opposition to Senator Clinton. Just because he could go and outspend Senator Clinton to buy the votes......well, he and his campaign made a poor decision. Sorry Charlie!

What I would like to know is why wasn't anyone such as the governors in the state of FL and MI didn't say anything regarding voters being disinfranchised when they both agreed to the party rules. Why did they wait until way after the fact to make this such a major issue. This is so ridiculous I can't believe these are actual elected officials. Clinton campaign thinks they can just have things done there way, why not just split the delegates and call it a day and you won't have to worry about raising any type of money, but nope the clinton campaign is not hardly for that they want it just because her name was on the ballot in FL well what about MI what is your solution there clinton campaign? How could you say you won MI when you didn't compete with anyone and in FL when you agreed not to campaigne there at all I'll tell you why is because your trailing behind barack in delegates and you will do anything to get them. same ole politics as usual ENOUGH IS ENOUGH no more bushes or clintons in the white house.

OBAMA 08!!

I don't care how they do it, they better count the votes. Dems should not disenfranchise voters after what happened to Gore!! And just for your info. Obama removed his name!!!!!!! from Mich. He also ran adds in Florida on cable, and some of us know it was intentional. If Hillary had done that there would have been a very loud outcry!!

Florida and Michigan make the Democrats look totally stupid.

Let Oprah foot the bill.

While she is at it, she could offer up free cars to those with proof that they voted for Obama despite their predisposition...

The Democratic National Committee should stand by their decision to disallow the votes in Florida and Michigan. I feel the media is not doing their part to encourage the committee to do so.

It really isn't fair to the voting public but their elected officials who speak for them made the decision to break the rules knowing what would happen. Neither is it fair to ask the voters to do the whole thing over again.

Michigan making reference to having caucuses will be totally unfair to Hillary. News media states over and over she doesn't do well in a caucus. The reason for that is us senior citizens are not able to participate in such lengthy ordeals. I for one voted early in Texas to avoid the lines but couldn't attend the caucus due to health reasons. I use oxygen, would have run out two or three times had I attempted attending the caucus. Us seniors regardless of health are just not able to participate in such lengthy processes, we need to get in and out and back home. Thanks

How about running a re-vote which most feel is fair to voters but only awarding 50% of the value in order to be fair to States who followed the rules.

This sounds like Bush v. Gore 2000, all over again. Allow both states a re-vote in a primary ONLY, and with a PAPER TRAIL. No caucuses ( disenfranchisement of elderly, poor and working, etc); no mail-in; no on-line.

The money can be raised by the campaigns, private donors; heck, I will donate to the cause of justice to give people their voice.

I am asking AL GORE to solve this issue by doing what is right...COME OUT AND GIVE YOUR ENDORSEMENT TO OBAMA WHO HAS GARNISHED MORE STATES, MORE DELEGATES AND MORE POPULAR VOTE. This will end this issue and solidify the democratic party going into the national election. Stand up Mr. Gore for the sake of your party and the country!

The mail-in vote would be an excellent idea and there is no way EITHER side can claim it is unfair. It gives Clinton a chance to catch up, the obama camp can try and prove they can win in big states, and the people of Florida and Michigan have a say like everyone else. This is the only logical explanation.

What would happen to the younger crowds' votes?

Fine, let's do it. Just stop talking about it and give us a date so that we can start campaigning here in the sunshine state.

.DEMOCRATS NOT LETTING THE PEOPLES VOICE COUNT....FLORIDA 2000, OHIO 2004 DEMOCRATS AND HOWARD DEAN 2008. THIS IS HOW TO PUT A REPUBLICAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER 7 YEARS OF FAILED POLICIES FROM THE ECONOMY, HEALTH CARE, AND THE 2 WARS....WAKE UP HOWARD DEAN AND GET IT DONE NOW.

In all fairness, all votes for an actual candidate should remain and not change. If the people came out, it should stick. As far as other voters, I think that they should just have regular elections. I think a mail-in could have potential for extremely high levels of fraud.