Obama gets behind Florida’s delegate plan

Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) campaign said Saturday that it is willing to seat half of Florida's delegates based on the proposal offered by the Florida Democratic delegation, a concession that would give rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) an advantage in the state but leave her short of what she wants and needs from the state.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), speaking on Obama's behalf at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) meeting, announced the Illinois senator's move to wild applause from the 500 onlookers.

{mosads}The statement came after a morning of impassioned pleas and methodical presentations aimed at getting the RBC to reverse the punishment it imposed on Florida when it stripped the state of its delegates last year for holding the Florida primary ahead of the approved time.

Wexler said that Obama was embracing what has become known as the Ausman petition, the Florida Democratic Party’s proposal as put forward by Florida DNC member Jon Ausman, but he said Obama supports only counting the state’s superdelegates as half votes, a stance that was met with boos in the room.

Obama's position had not been clear in the lead-up to Saturday’s meeting other than saying he would like to see both Florida and Michigan’s delegates divided evenly between the two candidates despite Clinton’s wins in both states.

“Sen. Obama should be commended for his willingness to offer this extraordinary concession,” Wexler said.

While Ausman's presentation was both conciliatory and defiant, he was methodical as he disputed the committee's original ruling.

But passion soon took over the proceedings as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), a Clinton supporter, demanded at times angrily that the 1.75 million votes counted in the Jan. 29 primary be counted and all the delegates be seated. But Nelson later fell short of towing the Clinton line when he acknowledged that he would support the Ausman petition.

Saturday's meeting became a pivotal moment in the election as Clinton and her representatives continued to push hard to persuade the RBC to seat all of Florida's delegates, but reports circulated in the press area that a decision on Florida had already been reached despite the theatrics.

Both RealClearPolitics and HuffingtonPost reported that the committee had already decided to seat all of Florida's delegates but give them only half a vote. The Michigan question, however, seemed far from resolved.

Behind in every mathematical category, Clinton desperately needs the original results of the state's primary, which she won handily despite no campaigning there by either candidate, to count if she has any hopes of staging yet another improbably comeback.

But only a lackluster protest of about 500 turned out before the meeting began, and most of them left or moved to the TVs in the lobby shortly after the meeting began.

While much of the morning was spent with Democratic Party officials, including Chairman Howard Dean, offering promises of unity and party healing, the passion, cheers and jeers in the room painted a picture of a party that does have some deep divisions.

The committee did not break for lunch, opting instead to deal with Michigan immediately.