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I've talked, over and again, about the startling cynicism of the Clinton campaign in initially accepting and supporting the decision to decredential Michigan and Flordia, and then trying to reverse that decision when it seemed politically helpful. I've mentioned that Clinton's top staffer, Harold Ickes, was on the DNC committee that voted to strip Michigan and Florida of their delegates. Now comes this excerpt from Terry McAuliffe's book, that recounts what McAuliffe did, as DNC Chairman, when Michigan threatened to move up their primary in 2004:
"I'm going outside the primary window," [Michigan Sen. Carl Levin] told me definitively."If I allow you to do that, the whole system collapses," I said. "We will have chaos. I let you make your case to the DNC, and we voted unanimously and you lost."He kept insisting that they were going to move up Michigan on their own, even though if they did that, they would lose half their delegates. By that point Carl and I were leaning toward each other over a table in the middle of the room, shouting and dropping the occasional expletive."You won't deny us seats at the convention," he said."Carl, take it to the bank," I said. "They will not get a credential. The closest they'll get to Boston will be watching it on television. I will not let you break this entire nominating process for one state. The rules are the rules. If you want to call my bluff, Carl, you go ahead and do it."We glared at each other some more, but there was nothing much left to say. I was holding all the cards and Levin knew it.Say what you will about the political wisdom of the move, but the Clintonites, at one time, knew exactly how bad this would be for the party. They were clear in their opposition to Michigan and Florida shuffling their primaries, and steadfast in their willingness to impose consequences. The problem came when those consequences collided with their need for votes...
