Obama calls for Florida and Michigan to receive full votes for 'party unity'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama called Sunday for the Florida and Michigan delegates to receive full votes at his national nominating convention this month.

In a letter addressed to leaders at the Democratic National Committee, Obama said the move would help promote "party unity."

"We must be — and will be — united in our determination to change the course of our nation," Obama wrote in the letter, news of which was first reported by PalmBeachPost.com.

"To that end, Democrats in Florida and Michigan must know that they are full partners and colleagues in our historic mission to reshape Washington and lead our country in a new direction."

The letter was designed to help heal the wounds leftover from a bitter, months-long battle over how to treat the embattled Florida and Michigan delegations.

The move may also take away a line of attack from Republicans, who attempted to score points by ridiculing Democratic presidential candidates for ignoring a bellwether state like Florida.

However, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer said Florida Democrats "won't forget how they've been treated."

"Senator Obama and the Democratic Party are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Greer said. "And just as in the fairy tale, you can't put something together after it's broken in so many pieces."

The flap over Florida's Democratic delegates arose when the Republican-controlled state legislature approved an earlier-than-usual primary, which violated DNC rules and put the state at odds with national party leaders.

The DNC rules committee responded by stripping the state's delegation of its votes, which rendered the Florida primary results meaningless.

But when the race between Obama and Hillary Clinton lasted longer than any Democratic nominating race in a generation, each delegate vote became crucial.

That forced desperate state party leaders to consider — and later abandon — a "do-over" primary to be conducted through the mail.

It also compelled national leaders, many of whom had taken sides in the primary battle, to hold a contentious meeting in May and ultimately return half-votes to the Florida and Michigan convention delegates. The Democratic convention starts Aug. 25 in Denver.

"Today is a proud day for all of us who fought so hard to ensure Floridians' votes are fully counted," Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said Sunday.

Neither Obama nor Clinton truly campaigned in Florida or Michigan after signing a pledge crafted by party leaders in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. All four states had received permission from the DNC to hold primary contests before Feb. 5, unlike Florida and Michigan.

With Obama pulling away in the delegate count, Clinton supporters fought to return full votes to both states based on state election results.

Clinton won Florida by 17 points and even more in Michigan, where Obama removed his name from the ballot after promising not to campaign in the state. Florida law does not allow a candidate to remove his or her name from the ballot.

By returning full votes to each state, Clinton would have closed the gap with Obama, but still trailed in the total delegate count. That issue is now moot since Clinton conceded and Obama is now the presumptive nominee.

The party split, however, was evident in South Palm Beach County, where Jewish voters had supported Clinton by margins comparable to areas of New York, which Clinton represents in the U.S. Senate.

Obama responded by holding a town hall meeting in a Boca Raton synagogue in his first general election campaign swing through Florida. His campaign ran more than 650 ads in the Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami markets from June 20 to July 6, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, said Obama's letter on Sunday was the "final step" toward uniting the party.

"Everyone in my area is behind Senator Obama," said Wexler, who is co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign in Florida. "An enormous amount of work has been done and Florida is in play in a very serious way."

Florida's Jan. 29 primary also violated the Republican National Committee schedule and the GOP delegation was punished by forfeiting half of its delegation vote.

It never became an issue in that race, however, as Republican presidential candidates spent more than a week in Florida before the election, which ultimately helped McCain separate from his fellow contenders.

Michael C. Bender writes for The Palm Beach Post.