Saturday, March 15, 2008

Your Money Back If Not Satisfied

It seems a lot of Democrat Party donors are not satisfied with the way the primaries are going and promise to withhold donations if their complaints are not resolved.

Democrats in Michigan and Florida struggled Friday to resolve the impasse over their disputed January primaries, coming up with a plan to hold a June primary in Michigan while remaining deadlocked in Florida.

Reflecting how tense the situation has become, influential fund-raisers for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have stepped up their behind-the-scenes pressure on national party leaders to resolve the matter, with some even threatening to withhold their donations to the Democratic National Committee unless it seats the delegates from the two states or holds new primaries there.
That should improve their chances in November.
Pushing to seat the Florida delegates, at least one top Clinton fund-raiser, Paul Cejas, a Miami businessman who has given the Democratic National Committee $63,500 since 2003, has demanded Democratic officials return his 2007 contribution of $28,500, which they have agreed to do.

“If you’re not going to count my vote, I’m not going to give you my money,” said Mr. Cejas, who was the United States ambassador to Belgium from 1998 to 2001.

Christopher Korge, a Florida real estate developer who is another top fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton, held an event last year in his home that brought in about $140,000 for the national party, which was set aside in a special account for the general election battle in Florida. But he told committee officials this week that if Florida’s delegate conundrum was not settled satisfactorily he would be asking for the money back.

“If we do not resolve this issue,” Mr. Korge said, “I think it’s safe to say there will be a request for a return of $140,000.”
I guess some Democrats are really not satisfied.

One Democrat understands what all this means for the party.
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be ``ruinous'' for the Democratic Party if the contest isn't resolved before the August nominating convention.

Cuomo, a Democrat, said the party may be able to avoid a damaging convention fight if Clinton and Obama teamed up on a party ticket, or if the media forced the candidates before then to substantively address big policy issues facing the nation, such as the economy and the war in Iraq.

``It would be ruinous to the Democrats to get to the convention without an arrangement of some kind,'' Cuomo said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today.
This is just peachy. For McCain. I like that.

To find out what rank and file Democrats are thinking about this read the comments here. An example:
Seriously as a Democrat, if Obama were to represent our party I would rather vote for McCain in the General Election. Obama?s connections to radical mentors to which he openly admits raises serious questions about his motives. I will not be party to any person connected in anyway to radical racist anti-Semitic groups.
Another goody:
If Clinton takes the nomination, I'm voting for Nader.
It looks to me like this election will come down to party unity. Something the Democrats seem to be avoiding for the time being.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

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