Full vote realized for Florida delegates

A great headline in the Miami Herald’s online reporting Sunday afternoon, from Denver: “Florida Delegates regain full vote at national convention” I go on to imagine that the two bylines on that story, the Herald’s most experienced political reporters, Beth Reinhard and Lesley Clark, follow up by promising to eat the many words they wrote 6-8 months ago declaring that our votes in the Jan. 29 primary wouldn’t count because our delegates wouldn’t be seated. Nothing personal against them. They were among many in the media herd who swallowed the Rovian line and dismissed the importance of Floridians going to vote. There was some real controversy about the circumstances, I concede, but I argued repeatedly in this blog (a link to one example) that in the end the Florida delegates would be seated – and with full votes most likely. And it was flat wrong of the flagship newspaper in Florida to say, in effect, that people shouldn’t bother to vote. Shame, shame, shame. What about a newspaper’s civic duty? Even after Florida voted in unusually large numbers, even after Rudy Giuliani dropped out because of the Florida result, even after John Edwards dropped out because of the Florida result, the media kept on saying the vote hadn’t counted. And that the convention delegates wouldn’t be seated. Even though it was entirely predictable that the eventual nominee would seat all delegations. And there was another great story in the Miami Herald on Sunday, p. 1 reporting that Florida Democrats see redemption ahead in Denver. Wow, your blogger was quoted favorably to the effect that he had known all along that it would turn out OK. ''I feel vindicated because I was always confident that in the end things would work out,'' said Democratic activist Larry Thorson, who campaigned for months with a cardboard cutout of Obama on street corners across Miami-Dade when the real candidate wouldn't come because the state had been stripped of its delegates. Now Thorson's headed to Denver to blog for the Miami-Dade Democratic Party -- and see the walking-and-talking Illinois senator claim the nomination. ''I wish it had started six months ago in Florida, but there's been a real crescendo of activity,'' he said. A caveat: It was Dave Patlak who had campaigned for months with the Obama cutout, and I just happened to join him and his wife, Maryanne, when the Herald was doing a story on him as an early and vigorous Obama activist. See y’all in Denver, Herald political reporters. And fyi, here’s a great source for you, Alison Morano, a Florida delegate and blogger who fired off a triumphant email at 2:29 p.m. today saying: The credentials committee of the DNC just restored floridas votes in full! Alison Morano Full Florida Delegate