Michigan Delays District Conventions

Michigan Delays District Conventions

Hoping to buy some time to get out of their self-imposed delegate dilemma, the Michigan Democratic Party has postponed congressional district conventions scheduled for Saturday.

The Detroit News reports that the conventions have been pushed back to April 19 -- one week before Iowa's district conventions and three days before the next major event in the nomination fight, the Pennsylvania primary.

The Michigan conventions will choose 83 national convention delegates, who as of this writing will be split along the lines of the state's calendar violating Jan. 15 primary and are not going to be seated. Hillary Clinton won that vote with 55 percent to 40 percent for "uncommitted," while leading rivals Barack Obama and John Edwards took their names off the ballot. Another 45 Michigan delegates will be picked at the state central Committee meeting on May 17, and 28 more are superdelegates.

Last week the Michigan legislature failed to work out plans for a do-over primary before its spring recess. The main live proposal still on the table is the "half Nelson" plan floated by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, where delegates chosen in Michigan and Florida's rule-breaking primaries would be seated with a half vote each. This would parallel the Republican Party's delegate penalties and would fall within DNC rules.