Democratic delegates from Michigan and Florida were awarded full voting rights at the national convention Sunday, despite holding early primaries against party rules.
The convention credentials committee voted unanimously to restore the voting privileges at Sen. Barack Obama’s behest. The states were initially stripped of delegates for holding primaries before Feb. 5. The party’s rules committee restored the delegates in May, but gave them only half votes.
Obama’s former Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, won both primaries. Obama’s name was not on the Michigan ballot and neither candidate campaigned in Florida.
Florida has 211 delegates, including superdelegates, and Michigan has 157. Both states are expected to be battlegrounds in November.
Reinstating the delegates will not affect Obama’s delegate lead because he has more endorsements from the states’ superdelegates.
Clinton to release delegates Wednesday
Clinton will gather her primary delegates Wednesday at a Denver reception where she is expected to formally release them to Obama, a Democratic official said Sunday on condition of anonymity.
Clinton is the headline speaker Tuesday at the Democratic convention.
Some Clinton delegates still plan to vote for her at the convention, even if she releases them.
“This is much bigger than Hillary,” said Pam Durham, a Clinton delegate from Fort Worth, Texas. “I have a responsibility. I do not own my vote. I have to represent the voters who sent me.”
Pat Bakalian, a Clinton delegate from Santa Cruz, Calif., agreed. She said she came to Denver to vote for Clinton, “and it’s what I’m going to do.”
Biden will run for V.P. and Senate
Sen. Joe Biden will pursue two campaigns at once this fall: his race for the White House as Obama’s running mate and his quest for re-election to the Senate, a spokesman said Sunday.
That means that if Obama and Biden win the presidential race, Biden’s Senate successor would be appointed by the Delaware governor. The governor’s race is also on the ballot this November.
Biden is expected to defeat Republican challenger Christine O’Donnell in November.
Rallies, marches start early
About 1,000 anti-war activists marched peaceably through downtown Denver on the eve of the Democratic convention, waving signs and chanting, “Stop the torture, stop the war. That’s what we’re fighting for.”
In a wheelchair leading the march was anti-war activist Ron Kovic, the paralyzed Vietnam veteran whose story was chronicled in the book and movie “Born on the Fourth of July.”
“The whole world is going to be watching, and we will march with dignity and discipline today,” Kovic said.
At a rally before the march, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan told the crowd little has changed since her monthlong protest outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, in 2005.
“Now, three years later, our country is still mired in the Middle East. We’re talking about more war, more cold war, and Russia and Georgia, and invading Iran and Pakistan,” she said.
Police in riot gear patrolled on bicycles and on foot. It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any march-related arrests.
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