Campaign 2008

From The Associated Press

Michigan, candidates discuss do-over primary

LANSING, Mich.—Michigan Democrats are close to an agreement with presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama to hold a do-over primary.

Party officials and the campaigns negotiated Thursday, and state Democratic leaders were hopeful that an agreement could be reached on Friday, said Democratic officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. To go forward, any plan would require the approval of the two campaigns, the Democratic National Committee, state party leaders and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is backing Clinton.

Michigan Democrats need to act quickly because the politically divided Legislature will have to sign off on the deal and approve how to spend the privately raised funds for a new election. Members of the Democratic-controlled state House and Republican-controlled state Senate leave at the end of the month on their two-week spring break.

The contest must be held by June 10 for the results to count under DNC rules.

The national party punished Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates.

On Thursday, Florida Democrats proposed a vote-by-mail presidential primary while acknowledging the plan’s chances are slim.

Under the plan, all of Florida’s 4.1 million Democrats would be mailed a ballot. They could send it back, or cast a ballot in one of 50 regional voting centers that would be set up. The election would end June 3, a week before a Democratic National Committee deadline to name delegates. The estimated cost is $10 million to $12 million.

Obama, Clinton add to delegates

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sen. Barack Obama picked up five more delegates than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Mississippi’s Democratic primary.

But Clinton erased the gain after final election results became available from a couple of Super Tuesday contests.

In Mississippi, Obama won 19 delegates and Clinton 14.

Clinton picked up delegates based on final results from the New York primary and the Colorado caucuses, both of which were held Feb. 5. Clinton gained four delegates in Colorado and one delegate in New York.

Clinton also picked up three superdelegates, but lost a high-profile one when New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned.