WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws
Committee on Saturday voted to seat all Michigan delegates to its convention, giving each a half-vote and dividing them to give Hillary Clinton a slight edge over Barack Obama.

The 19-8 vote gives 69 pledged delegates to Clinton and 59 to frontrunner Obama — each with half a vote because Michigan was penalized, like Florida, for moving its primary ahead in the campaign season.

Clinton adviser and RBC member Harold Ickes said, "Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the Credentials Committee."

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Rules and Bylaws Committee narrowly voted Saturday against a motion by panel member Alice Huffman to fully seat Florida's delegation, sparking chaos in the ballroom where the panel was meeting, before voting almost unanimously to seat the full delegation but halve its voting strength.

The crowd grew increasingly vocal during the vote over Huffman's motion, as many in the audience began shouting at the members of the committee, hissing and chanting "Denver! Denver!" the site of the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Sen. Obama campaigns in Rapid City, South Dakota, Saturday.

RAPID CITY, South Dakota (CNN) — Democrat Barack Obama accused Republican John McCain Saturday of not owning up to what Obama calls his "mistake" — saying that the U.S. has drawn troops down to pre-surge levels in Iraq.

"We all misspeak sometimes," the Illinois senator told a crowd in Rapid City, South Dakota. "I've done it myself. So on such a basic, factual error, you'd think that John McCain would just say 'Oh, I misspoke, I made a mistake' and then move on. But he couldn't do that. Instead, he dug in."

Obama connected McCain's Iraq comments to President Bush's unwillingness to admit fault "when he was presented with facts that went against his views" on the war.

"Just like George Bush, John McCain is refusing to admit that he's made a mistake," the White House hopeful continued. "And that's exactly the kind of leadership that has got us fighting for five years in a war that should've never been authorized."

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Obama resigned from his controversial church, according to his campaign.

(CNN) — Barack Obama resigned Saturday from his Chicago church — where controversial sermons by his former pastor and other ministers had created repeated political headaches for the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination — his campaign confirmed.

The resignation comes days after the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a visiting Catholic priest, mocked Obama's Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, for crying in New Hampshire during the runup to the primary there.

Previously, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ and Obama's minister for about 20 years — drew unwanted attention for the campaign when videos of several of his fiery sermons surfaced.

In them, Wright suggested the U.S. government may be responsible for the spread of AIDS in the black community and equated some American wartime activities to terrorism.

Obama has said he was not present for the controversial sermons by Wright or Pfleger and had condemned both — most recently saying he was "deeply disappointed" by Pfleger's "divisive, backward-looking rhetoric."

Read the full story

Sen. Clinton waves from her campaign caravan in Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Rolling through GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's marathon caravan through the communities surrounding San Juan rolls on.

For the last several hours, the candidate has stood atop a souped-up white truck with her campaign logo splashed on the side. She's endured drizzle (umbrella immediately appeared) and sun (visor put on).

She's blown air-kisses to the crowd, waved at women in rollers who have come running, screaming, from beauty parlors, and stood quietly looking out over the landscape.

The mess of reporters following her has had the chance to survey every change in her facial expression as they hang off a covered truck mere feet from the presidential candidate.

The never-ending, ear-splitting soundtrack for this Puerto Rican campaign tradition is a mix of Ricky Martin and a salsa campaign jingle that includes an announcer screaming, "Who is here? Hillary Clinton, the next president of the United States!"

At various intersections, drivers of trucks and cars lay on their horns, trying to compete with the decibel level of the roughly 15-foot speaker leading Clintons ever-growing caravan.

As for news? It's slim pickings. One intrepid pool reporter attempted a question about the DNC meeting that could decide the status of disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan as the candidate briefly ducked into a restaurant but came up empty.

The caravan — over 15 cars long — rolls on.

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (CNN) — Hillary Clinton’s campaign embarked on a jam-packed day of Puerto Rico campaigning Saturday in an effort to get out tomorrow’s primary vote as a Democratic National Committee panel convened in Washington to essentially decide how the Democratic primary process will end.

A Clinton aide said she will likely receive updates from staff at the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting.

Clinton made no mention of the fight to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations during her first stop at a hospital where she talked about her plan to bring equitable and universal health care to Puerto Rico.

Several supporters addressed her as “President Clinton,” prompting cheers from the crowd.

Puerto Rico is not only important to Clinton’s presidential aspirations but also as a senator from New York who represents approximately 1 million Puerto Ricans.

“Campaigning in Puerto Rico is like one long Puerto Rican Day parade,” she said referencing a yearly event in New York City.

Clinton will spend the day “caravanning,” a Puerto Rican political tradition in which the candidate rides through various communities meeting and greeting voters and produces a wild and carnival-like atmosphere.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Obama is gearing up for the last three Democratic contests.

(CNN) — Barack Obama will close out the primary season on Tuesday with a campaign event at the site of the Republican convention.

His campaign announced on Saturday that the Illinois senator will team up with his wife Michelle at a rally at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, the same arena which will house the 2008 Republican National Convention in September.

Obama's rally will take place as Montana and South Dakota close out the Democratic primary season on Tuesday. Thirty-one delegates are at stake in those two states.

Minnesota is considered a battleground — or swing — state that both parties will fight for in the general election.

Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones speaks at a press conference outside the DNC meeting Saturday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Just outside the ballroom where the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee is deciding how to handle the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations, the Clinton campaign said Saturday it was unwilling to concede the "concession" offered by the Obama team during morning remarks.

Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, a supporter of Barack Obama, told the panel Saturday morning the Illinois senator's campaign was willing to make a "concession" by agreeing to the plan presented by Jon Ausman that would cut the state's delegate voting strength by half.

Outside the room where the RBC gathering is already running nearly four hours behind schedule, senior advisers for Hillary Clinton said the Obama campaign wasn't making a concession to the New York senator, but to reality.

Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones crashed a press conference with Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, Wexler and Ausman meant to showcase the relative agreement among the Floridians pleading the state's case before the committee Saturday.

"We don't expect that the Obama campaign will be so 'generous' as to 'give' us the 19 delegates," she said. "It is in fact more generous and more appropriate to count all the votes as they were cast."

Read the rest of this entry »

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting was heated at times.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Representatives for the Clinton and Obama campaigns squared off over the Michigan delegate dilemma Saturday in front of an increasingly rowdy crowd on hand for the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting.

David Bonior laid out the Obama campaign's view: Michigan delegates should be counted — but only in a way that doesn't count. The Illinois senator's campaign has called for delegates to be divided evenly with half going to him and half to Hillary Clinton, who won the unsanctioned January 15 contest.

"Due to all these circumstances, the unfortunate reality is that this primary that happened on January 15 was not anything that came close to a normal primary election, and cannot allocate delegates in a normal fashion as a result," the former Michigan congressman said.

"This does not mean that Michigan should be not represented at the national convention — it does mean that the delegates should be split evenly between the two remaining candidates, out of simple fairness," said Bonior, who pointed to Clinton's statement in a fall 2007 interview that the vote in Michigan would not count.

Both candidates might be nearly in agreement on a Florida compromise but remain far apart on the Michigan contest. Former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard presented the Clinton campaign's view: the RBC may have treated the Michigan primary as if it would not count but nobody else had, including the media and the state's voters.

Delegates, Blanchard said, should be divided based on the result of that vote.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Michigan Senator Carl Levin used his time in front of the Rules and Bylaws Committee to attack New Hampshire's "privileged position" as the traditional first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

He also attacked the committee for ultimately granting New Hampshire a waiver that allowed it to maintain that status, despite a party plan designed to address complaints from other areas of the country.

Levin argued that Michigan had accepted the ruling that it would not be one of the four states allowed to hold its primary in January — objecting only when New Hampshire, which was not included in that group, was granted a waiver.

"[The committee] put us in the position of taking on the perpetual privilege [that] no state should have," Levin said.

"…We decided, we're not going to sit by and do nothing for another decade or two."

Levin is a longtime critic of the special status granted New Hampshire and Iowa, whose caucuses are the first presidential preference votes in the nation.

Read the rest of this entry »

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets in Washington, Saturday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The chairman of Michigan's Democratic Party called on the national committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee to seat Michigan's full delegation with full voting rights, and divide the pledged delegates between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, 69-59.

RBC member Elaine Kamarck, a Clinton supporter, told Michigan party chair Mark Brewer the proposal was flawed.

"My problem is willy-nilly, arbitrary assignment of delegates when we actually had a legitimate vote," she said.

Brewer responded that the party had not followed any set guidelines in determining the split — but had reached this compromise because "we have to do something in this situation; we can't do nothing. I wish there were more, I wish it were better, but it's all we have."

The dispute over the seating of Michigan's delegates is a thornier dispute than the dilemma over Florida's delegation. Clinton was the only major candidate who did not remove her name from Michigan's primary ballot following the RBC's decision last summer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, argues his point while speaking during the DNC meeting

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Florida Democrats presented a nearly-united front to the Rules and Bylaws Committee Saturday in favor of Jon Ausman's proposal that would allow half the state's delegates to be seated at the summer convention.

"Today I am here fighting for the right of Florida Democrats to have their voices heard," said state Rep. Arthenia Joyner, in remarks that repeatedly referenced Florida's experience during the 2000 presidential election.

She said that the effort to prevent a repeat of that experience by passing a bill calling for a paper trail for every ballot had ironically resulted in the complete disenfranchisement of the state's Democrats.

The measure that moved Florida's primary date to January 29 was attached to that bill.

The committee asked whether she was calling for the seating of all the state's delegates, or would accept the 50 percent solution offered by Ausman.

"In life you don't get everything you want, but I want it all!" Joyner said as many in the crowd cheered.

Read the rest of this entry »

DNC member Jon Ausman speaks before the Rules and Bylaws committee meeting, Saturday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Florida Democrats conceded in their opening remarks that a party penalty for holding their primary was unavoidable but pleaded with Democratic leaders to seat half their state's delegates at the summer convention.

"We recognize, in fact, that Florida has violated that timing rule," said Florida Democratic National Committee member Jon Ausman, who had challenged the original penalty, and a punishment of some kind was "appropriate."

But he said Florida's superdelegates did not need to face a similar reduction under party rules.

He appealed to party unity as he urged the Rules and Bylaws Committee to reconsider the penalty.

"When we leave the room, I want all of us wearing our blue jerseys, so we can take on the Republicans in their red jerseys in November," Ausman said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Democratic National Committee member Alexis Herman.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alexis Herman, co-chair of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee, made clear on Saturday that the 50 percent compromise –- which would reduce the delegate strength of both Michigan and Florida by half, and allow those that remain to be seated at the Democratic convention -– was on the table.

The national party stripped both states of all their delegates last year -– but the automatic penalty only required that these delegations be reduced by half.

The former Clinton cabinet official stressed that a full reinstatement wasn’t up for debate by the RBC, saying both states knew before they moved up their primary dates that there would be severe consequences for violating party rules -– and that the penalty had worked as intended, since no other contests were scheduled for January beyond the two unauthorized votes and the four sanctioned by the party.

"We had many states that wanted to violate the timing. We needed to send a very strong signal in order to prevent additional states from moving forward,” Herman said in her opening remarks.

Democratic National Committee members at Saturday's meeting.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean had tough words for the media on Saturday, saying that the presidential race had been plagued by "blatantly sexist comments, particularly by some members of the media — and blatantly racist remarks."

"The media will…look for conflict," he told members of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee gathered to resolve the impasse over seating the Florida and Michigan delegations. "They will not talk about your energy and your passion for your candidate, and your enthusiasm."

Supporters of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid have increasingly targeted reporters and other members of the Democratic Party for what they say is unfair treatment of the New York senator because she is a woman. As he spoke, hundreds of Clinton supporters rallied outside to press for the full seating of both the Florida and Michigan delegates.

Dean seemed to direct his comments at these angry voters, many of whom carried signs Saturday that threatened to withhold their vote in November if both states were not seated in full in accordance with the results of their January primaries, as Clinton has urged.

As he stewed over the demise of his own presidential bid in 2004, he recalled, he received a call from Al Gore. Dean said he spent several minutes "ranting and raving" about the way he felt he had been mistreated by the party. He said that Gore responded: "Howard, this is not about you — it's about your country."

Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Protesters outside the Democratic rules committee meeting call for every vote to be counted in Michigan and Florida.

Protesters voice their concerns outside the DNC headquarters on Capitol Hill in April.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Bleary-eyed Democrats failed to reach consensus early Saturday morning on a plan to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations — setting up a potentially explosive hearing later in the day between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on how to address this politically sensitive situation.

Members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws panel convened for more than five hours behind closed doors Friday evening. The meeting ended at 1:30 a.m. ET Saturday — eight hours before the committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter.

Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton disagree over how best to address the situation of Michigan and Florida, which were penalized for holding their primaries early. The DNC sanctioned Michigan and Florida by excluding them from representation when the party nominates a candidate at the August convention.

"It was a full discussion," said Harold Ickes, a DNC Rules member from the District of Columbia who supports Clinton. "I think there was some agreement on some issues and still some disagreements on others."

The Democratic presidential hopefuls have both said they want the Florida and Michigan delegates to attend the convention, but Clinton's campaign is calling for the results of the primaries to be honored and the delegates awarded based on the results. This approach would help her chip away at Obama's lead in pledged delegates because handily won both states and would be awarded a greater share of the delegates.

Obama's campaign disagrees, saying that this is not reasonable because he followed the rules, took his name off of the Michigan ballot, and did not campaign in either state.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Obama's campaign sent a fundraising e-mail highlighting Republican anxiety in the 2008 race.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Democratic leaders began their meeting on Saturday to resolve the dispute over the Florida and Michigan delegations, Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand sent supporters a fundraising e-mail that pointed to Republican anxiety over Obama's possible impact at the polls in November.

In an e-mail titled "Democrats Win Landslide Victory," Republican former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist wrote "I have a real fear of waking up to this headline after the elections this fall," describing concerns among GOP officials over Obama's campaign infrastructure.

"In key states, news accounts indicate Democrats are outpacing Republicans registering voters. We also know Barack Obama's campaign is utilizing the Internet to raise record amounts of money to support his campaign and Democrats nationally," Frist wrote. "… all in the hope that new voters and record resources will produce a Democrat landslide victory this fall."

"There's so much at risk, and conservatives I talk with from all across the country are feeling the rumblings of 'what could be,'…" Frist wrote.

Hildebrand wrote that Frist was "right to be worried," and highlighted the fundraising deadline for the month of May, which ends at midnight, adding that this marked "the last chance to have a meaningful impact on the final three primary contests…"

Sen. Obama tours Mt. Rushmore into the late night hours.

KEYSTONE, South Dakota (CNN) — Everyone in Barack Obama's traveling press entourage thought it was just a late night jaunt to Mt. Rushmore, sans the candidate.

Since Obama is planning no events at the popular tourist destination on his two-day swing through the Rushmore State, about 30 members of the media and his staff decided to check out the monument on their own after the work day was over.

But press were informed at about 10:15 PM local time — midway through the 30 minute bus ride to the site — that the White House hopeful would be meeting up with them and would be at the base of the mountain ahead of time.

Some members of the media had not come on the trip, since everyone had assumed it was an Obama-less evening to relax.

Traveling spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters after the stop concluded that Communications Director Robert Gibbs had informed the senator a group of people were making the trip. Obama's response: "I want to go, too."

It was his first trip to the national park. Earlier in the week, rival Hillary Clinton made her own trip to the famous monument.

Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (CNN) — After weeks of planning by unions, women’s rights groups and others supporting Hillary Clinton's push to seat Florida and Michigan delegates at the Democratic convention this summer, supporters of the New York senator's presidential bid arrived in the nation’s capital by the busload Friday in advance of rallies outside Saturday's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting.

“I’m hoping we restore 100 percent of the delegates from both Michigan and Florida and the popular vote will also be restored,” said Karen Feldman, an organizer of the “Count Every Vote” rally. “…I firmly believe that in Florida that was the purest election we’ve ever had, and I think that those votes should stand where they are and should be counted the way they are.”

Florida Demands Representation, another sponsoring group pushing for the January 29 vote to be recognized by the national party, said Friday it was expecting 400 to 500 supporters to arrive by Saturday. “The Democratic party is in danger in Florida,” said organizer James Hannagan.

The seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations is a priority for Clinton, who won both unsanctioned contests and is currently trailing frontrunner Barack Obama by 202 delegates in the latest CNN count.

Hannagan said that if Clinton is not the Democratic nominee, some members of his forum will vote for McCain, write in Hillary’s name or not vote at all.

The Clinton campaign has tacitly encouraged pressure on RBC members meeting to resolve the controversy, but has denied any role in protests planned for Saturday.