As Barack Obama tries to maintain his strong delegate lead in the race for the Democratic nomination, his campaign has quietly worked to thwart new primaries in Florida and Michigan because second contests in those states could benefit Hillary Clinton.
Obama holds a lead of roughly 120 delegates, with 689 still up for grabs, and is ahead in the popular vote by more than 700,000. It would be nearly impossible for Clinton to overtake him in the remaining 10 primaries, but victories in Florida and Michigan, however small, would bolster her argument that she has the best chance of winning large “swing” states.
Clinton victories in Florida and Michigan would also cut into Obama’s advantage in popular votes and delegates that he hopes will make him the presumptive candidate when the primaries end in June.
Clinton won the two states in earlier contests this year, but the results were discounted because Florida and Michigan broke party rules by conducting the primaries in January. Neither candidate officially campaigned in either state, and Obama’s name was not on the Michigan ballot.
Obama has mostly remained quiet about the proposals in Florida and Michigan, but his campaign aides expressed “concerns” about them.
“He’s got a good chance of winning the bulk of the remaining primaries,” said unaligned Democratic campaign strategist Peter Fenn. “Why throw something else into the mix that would upset the apple cart?”
A plan to conduct a mail-in vote in Florida died this week, and a proposal to hold a new primary in Michigan in June is about to suffer the same fate, with Obama backers in the state legislature refusing to back it.
“There are many concerns that have not been satisfied, and it would be imprudent for us to support this legislation and be asked to vote in short order when the proposal is half baked,” said state Sen. Tupac A. Hunter, an Obama backer.
