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Laurie (not verified) says:
While I wish that there were some fair way to represent FL and MI delegates, the fact is that when people went to the polls in those states they knew that their votes on the presidential primary would not count. There is, unfortunately, no way to adjust fairly for how this impacted the actual voting. In Michigan, Obama was not even on the ballot. In Florida, there was an important matter about housing taxes (or something like that) being voted on that apparently caused a disproportionate representation by homeowners to choose to go to the polls that day. The number of people who voted for HC vs who voted for BO on that day cannot, therefore, be used as an accurate representation of the will of the people in those states.
Other factors that cannot be ignored: 1) Republicans and Independents who might have voted for a Democrat in the Michigan primary likely voted for a Republican because they knew their Democrat vote would not count. 2) Neither HC nor BO actually campaigned in MI or FL. At that point in time, HC was a household name and BO was not. BO has shown in every state contest he has campaigned in that he does far better once people get to know him. There is no way to know how those states would have voted had they been exposed to campaigns by both HC and BO.
While I wish that there were some fair way to represent FL and MI delegates, the fact is that when people went to the polls in those states they knew that their votes on the presidential primary would not count. There is, unfortunately, no way to adjust fairly for how this impacted the actual voting. In Michigan, Obama was not even on the ballot. In Florida, there was an important matter about housing taxes (or something like that) being voted on that apparently caused a disproportionate representation by homeowners to choose to go to the polls that day. The number of people who voted for HC vs who voted for BO on that day cannot, therefore, be used as an accurate representation of the will of the people in those states.
Other factors that cannot be ignored: 1) Republicans and Independents who might have voted for a Democrat in the Michigan primary likely voted for a Republican because they knew their Democrat vote would not count. 2) Neither HC nor BO actually campaigned in MI or FL. At that point in time, HC was a household name and BO was not. BO has shown in every state contest he has campaigned in that he does far better once people get to know him. There is no way to know how those states would have voted had they been exposed to campaigns by both HC and BO.