By now everyone knows Florida and Michigan broke the Democratic Party’s rules when they held their primaries before the approved dates.

In each case Hillary Clinton won, but Barack Obama and the other candidates were not on the Michigan ballot and Clinton is the only one to break the pledge not to campaign in Florida.

Now the states face being disenfranchised at the convention because they broke party rules.

The states and the parties are trying to find an acceptable solution at this time, but it seems the caucus system favors Obama and the primary system favors Clinton, so what’s the answer?

The other day I had read that Gov. Crist of Florida had said the state would be willing to pay the expenses for a do-over, but now he says no after talking to the senior senator from Florida, Democrat Bill Nelson.

In my opinion, that’s a no-brainer anyway since the state already paid for one primary.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count in the epic Democratic campaign.
The Michigan governor, along with top officials in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign and Florida’s state party chair, are now saying they would consider holding a sort of do-over contest by June. That’s a change from their previous insistence that the primaries their states held in January should determine how the their delegates are allocated.

Clinton won both contests, but the results were meaningless because the elections violated national party rules.

The Democratic National Committee stripped both states of all their delegates for holding the primaries too early, and all Democratic candidates—including Clinton and rival Barack Obama—agreed not to campaign in either state. Obama’s name wasn’t even on the Michigan ballot.

Florida and Michigan moved up their dates to protest the party’s decision to allow Iowa and New Hampshire to go first, followed by South Carolina and Nevada, giving them a disproportionate influence on the presidential selection process.

But no one predicted the race would still be very close this late in the year.

Ironically, Michigan and Florida could have held crucial primaries if they had stayed with their traditional later dates. They may yet do so if they decide to hold new contests as Clinton and Obama compete to the wire.

Clinton has been insisting that the desires of more than 2 million people who cast Democratic ballots in the two states should be reflected at the convention, which would help her catch up to Obama in the race for convention delegates. Obama has said he wants to see the delegates from the two critical swing states participate, too, but not if Clinton is rewarded for victories in boycotted primaries.

Now the Clinton campaign has begun expressing openness to a do-over. “Let’s let all of the voters go again if they are willing to do it,” Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday night on MSNBC. “Whatever we have to do to get people in the system, let’s do it.”

The new contests could be part of a strategy for Clinton to come back in the race and attract votes from superdelegates who are not bound by any primary or caucus votes, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told the network. “Let’s assume for the moment Hillary Clinton wins Ohio and Texas, she wins Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan have primaries in June, she wins both of those,” said Rendell, who has endorsed Clinton. “Then, can the superdelegates look at that and say, `Gosh, she’s won the last five big primaries in a row. She’s won almost every big primary since we began.’”

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Clinton supporter, told the Detroit Free Press that Clinton’s victory in Ohio changes “the landscape a bit.” She said it could open the door to a caucus, if it can be privately funded and both candidates agree.

The party doesn’t want to part with any money now because they need to save it for the general election. If the states can’t manage to get the funding privately or partially privately and partially publicly how will they have a do-over?

And is Hillary Clinton going to be open to a caucus system that has betrayed her all year long? Besides, the caucus system disenfranches anyone who is out of the state on the date of the caucus. How fair is that? Will the people be excited enough to go through this all again after the mess they’ve seen and the obvious anger they’ve experienced?

Michigan Democrats are discussing holding a “firehouse” contest in May or June that would be an alternative to a traditional primary or caucus and run by the state party, said a Democratic Party official who has been part of the discussions. “Firehouse” contests usually have fewer polling places and shorter voting hours than traditional state-run primary elections.

The party official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private, said there was general consensus that it could not be held at taxpayers’ expense and would attempt to generate participation from about 1 million state Democrats.

House and Senate Democrats from Florida and Michigan planned to meet Wednesday night on Capitol Hill to discuss ways of getting their state’s delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August, Democratic aides said.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said the party is open to another vote, as long as it meets three criteria. Both candidates would have to fully participate, a source of funding would have to be provided and it would have to allow all the state’s Democrats to participate, including those serving in the military overseas. So far, she said, no suggested alternative has met those requirements.

Barack, you’d better be careful, because if Hillary is for an arrangement there must be something sneaky going on.

Split the baby. Assign half the delegates from each state to each of the two remaining candidates and let the superdelegates decide which side they’re on. It’s cheaper and makes more sense.

Updated This later information from The Hill:

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) warned the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday that it is facing the “biggest train wreck you’ve ever seen” if a standoff is not resolved over his state’s pledged delegates to the party’s presidential nominating convention.

Nelson sent a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean Thursday asking the committee to either accept the Jan. 29 results of the primary election or pay for a redo of the elections, which could cost in the range of $20 million. He sent the letter after Dean did not return his telephone call Wednesday.

“If they go to the Democratic Convention and stiff-arm the Florida delegations, how in the world do you think Floridians are going to support the Democratic nominee on Nov. 4?” Nelson told reporters Thursday. “It’s in everybody’s interest to find a solution to this problem.”

However, earlier in the day, Dean said the party would not pay for any do-over.

“We can’t afford to do that,” Dean stated on CBS’s “Early Show.” “That’s not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race.”

It looks like a mess. Nelson has a point. What incentive will the Democrats of Michigan or Florida have if their delegates are not seated and a part of the convention?