Inauguration day, take two -- a remarkable day unlike any other

How many of you sobbed yesterday? We desperately needed a catharsis after the last eight years. And especially after the last four maimed by bunker mentality, fear, despair and a governance vacuum.

Millions of Americans trekked to D.C. to witness President Obama's inauguration. Millions more breathed a collective sigh of relief (some openly taunted) as Bush flew away. The problems we face are immense. Our international reputation has been trashed. Our economy left in ruins. The lives of millions of us more tenuous than ever, as unemployment soars and foreclosures mount.

But, as of yesterday, we actually have a President willing to take on the role of leader and call us to conscience and responsibility as We the People. He recognizes we are a pluralistic society and seeks rational responses to national problems. He is willing to step into the position of a national symbol. He says he is humbled and I believe him.

I want to believe that our country is not permanently broken by the excesses and sins of the last eight years. I hope that we can redeem our reputation among nations. I pray that we can help each other, especially the least among us, find lives of dignity and purpose in this historically dismal economy.

I for one am ready to get up and try again. To do my best on behalf of all the people I love and people I don't even know. There's plenty of work to be done and, after yesterday, plenty of willing hands to pitch in.

Inauguration day -- a historic day like any other

It's party time in D.C. for the Dems who have waited eight years for these inaugural balls, dinners and concerts. People are primping and prepping, acquiring last-minute formal wear, begging for tickets, hoping to network, witness history and have fun. After all they worked hard to get their man into the White House and it's time to kick back and whoop, dance until sunup, drink a little too much and kiss a dozen strangers. The moment is historic; the President elect is African American. It may not be morning in America, but the clouds seem to be parting a little.

I would love to be able to celebrate, but I am terrible at compartmentalizing and cognitive dissonance gives me a scorching headache. If I did have a ticket to the inauguration, I'd probably give it away, because I'd be unable to enjoy myself knowing that for a lot of people who are suffering, nothing will change after the three-day-long party in D.C. Nothing.

It isn't party time for the 2.6 million Americans who lost their jobs last year. And not for the 120,000 who lost their jobs in the first half of January. Nor is it party time for the increasing numbers of children living in poverty with parents destitute and homeless, unable to provide adequate nutrition, shelter and medicine for their young.

Obama may inspire people who have lost everything to continue hoping that things will improve. What else do they have at this juncture? He will certainly motivate young, idealistic people to give of themselves to better their communities. But can he ensure that sensible and ethical financial regulation will be implemented over the entire financial services sector immediately? Can he motivate Congress to conduct oversight of the FDA and EPA, two agencies whose work has been severely compromised and politicized in the last eight years? Can he raise morale in the Justice Department? Can he bring effective leadership to FEMA? Can he close Guantanamo and save face? Can he seek bipartisan collaboration and get pragmatic compromise? Can he herd cats?

Congratulations, President-elect Obama and good luck.

Illinois politics -- cesspool, not swamp

This week Illinois Gov. Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges. Yawn.

Chicago was a swamp before it was a city. Underneath its spectacular architecture it is still a swamp.

Slimy politics are an Illinois thing. Consider it a kind of identity politics in which some take pride.

Vote early and often. If you're dead, even better. Pay-to-play is nothing new. Machine politics require lubrication, so don't be surprised if the Illinois slime-o-meter needle has smacked the end of the dial at a time campaigns have become obscenely pricey. Governor Blago is worse than we ever imagined! Lincoln is rolling in his grave! Nah. Blago had something lots of people wanted: a fresh Senate seat open to the highest bidder. How different is that from multi-million dollar campaigns selling candidates on television? If anything it's a more thrifty method of getting the seat filled. Skip the voters; it costs less. Aren't we in an economic crisis?

And speaking of record breaking campaign finance, there's a reason Obama won. There's a reason Obama appears so cool in the face of global crises and the next Great Depression. He made it through the proving ground of Illinois muck. He has seen things that fine, idealistic, morally pure voters cannot stomach and he has risen to the top. He has waded through the cesspool of Illinois politics and can still utter words like 'hope' and 'fairness' with a straight face.

He can see the world as it is, not as he might like it to be, and still function, perhaps more effectively than someone with more delicate sensibilities.

Some have speculated that Illinois is the most corrupt state in the country. Not a chance. The dance partner of machine politics is a passionate political activism that seeks transparency and justice, which opened a way for the FBI to gather information and make a case.

Relax. This is politics.

GM no more? No way

Dire news from General Motors late last week...they may run out of cash required to operate early next year. And following that gem, Deutsche Bank torpedoed GM share value by speaking the previously unspeakable. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, "Deutsche Bank said publicly today what many detractors of General Motors Inc. have been thinking for some time — the company is worthless."

Across the blogosphere glib finance types are musing that any company with a failed business plan should not be bailed out. This on the heels of US taxpayers bailing out the failed, paper pushing, speculative financial shadow economy? Puhleeeze.

To spitefully dismantle the Big Three, because they have more value in pieces shed of legacy obligations is stupid, short-sighted and heartless.The auto industry represents the last hope for heavy manufacturing in the United States. This sector could be transformed and retooled to foster new energy and transportation technologies and products.

To posit that automakers are struggling due to a failed business model is also wrong. GM, Ford and Chrysler have spent the last several years implementing brutal restructuring precisely in recognition that their business model needed transforming. What is doing them in today and tomorrow and the next day is the same global credit crisis that plagues all sectors of our economy.

So why then should the Big Three get help? Because they are our best shot at developing a national industrial policy aimed at job creation and the restoration of American manufacturing. They could form the foundation of a new manufacturing sector centered on energy efficiency and green technology. Today's automotive infrastructure was built on the arsenal of democracy that supplied the U.S. during WWII. Tomorrow's green energy economy could be built on today's infrastructure.

This is not a Michigan issue. If the Big Three go down, millions of jobs will be lost across the country in the first year, according to the Center for Automotive Research.

Should one or two or three of the Big Three go down this little recession will become big. This is not a hunch; this is a fact.

So good luck and best wishes to Gov. Granholm as she participates in the Obama Administration transition team. Make us proud, Governor.

Picking the next President

I don't belong to a political party and I am not active in either presidential campaign. But I have decided who's my man for this election.

If you are having trouble making up your mind, ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you want to make your choice on the content of a candidate's capabilities or the color of his skin?
2. Would you rather have a smart president or an angry one?
3. Would you rather have a president who can't manage his disdain for his opponent or one who stays cool while being attacked?
4. Would you rather have a president who can clearly articulate his policy positions or one who gets snared in his own talking points?
5. Would you rather have a president who knowingly put the country in danger by picking an ignorant running mate or a president who chose a running mate with greater experience than his own?
6. Do you want a president who months ago said he just doesn't understand the economy trying to govern during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?
7. Would you rather have a president who wants to keep the middle class from going extinct or one who doesn't give a damn?
8. Would you rather have a president who wants to provide health care access to more Americans or one who wants to tax your health benefits?
9. Would you feel safe having a president with PTSD?
10. Would you rather have a president who has respect for women or one who chose vacuous pandering as a campaign tactic to win the "women's" vote?
11. Do you want another president who got into a prestigious college because of family connections and graduated near the bottom of the class or a president who earned his place at top schools through skill and aptitude, excelled, and paid his way with scholarships and aid?
12. Do you want a president who practices a politics of hope or a politics of hate, fear and smear?

Think carefully. Your future depends on this choice.

Presidential candidates favor the trickle-down bailout

Our current financial system sucks capital out of small communities, pads pockets on Wall Street and condemns ordinary people to lives of debt. But it's the devil we know and the presidential candidates think we should keep it on life support by passing the "rescue plan" currently pending in Congress.

Obama has warned of financial catastrophe if the "rescue" doesn't pass.

In a brazen effort to win popular support linking the woes of Wall Street to the woes on Main Street, McCain said on CNN:

"By the way, the first thing I'd do is say, 'Let's not call it a bailout. Let's call it a rescue.' Because it is a rescue. It's a rescue of Main Street America."

This supposes that our bloated, top-heavy, corrupt, unproductive financial system is worth propping up in its current form. This supposes that business as usual is good for Main Street. This supposes that the current system based on greed, fraud, unregulated worthless derivatives, swindling and a lifestyle of deceit has ever helped Main Street.

The words "crisis" and "catastrophe" are meant to scare Congress away from their responsibility to deliberate. After 9-11, Congress traded away liberty for false security with the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Now, "crisis" and "catastrophe" are employed to sway Congress away from their golden opportunity to remake our horribly broken "financial system" by re-establishing appropriate regulation and oversight. There is tremendous popular support for letting Wall Street take its licks and letting the so-called "free market" function for a change. The People would like to dole out some tough love through their elected representatives.

But some argue, since our retirement savings and college savings are tied up in the financial sector's worthless products, we will all suffer if more institutions fail. Worse yet, as global credit remains sluggish, companies will not make payroll and people will lose their jobs. Credit is the life blood of the global financial system. Traders need to float puffy clouds of highly leveraged risk around the globe around the clock to grow our retirement savings. We are all in this together, they intone. And drug dealers need users to stay in business.

But remember, prior to the hideous meltdown, millions of people were already suffering and losing jobs through downsizing and outsourcing -- the result of efforts to increase share value quarter to quarter.

Instead of propping up the system that brought us this mess, why not start by helping small businesses and individuals directly harmed by the situation. Why should Congress save huge banks from their own bad investment decisions and let local communities continue to crumble as foreclosures drive down property values and devastate once healthy neighborhoods?

How about giving Main Street a bailout, a chance to start over and let the benefits trickle up to the bloated big boys for a change?

--Take the $700 billion and start making very small loans ($20,000-$50,000) to homeowners in trouble. Think of it as the grandest ever micro-loan program. Consumers will spend at the local level, resume making their mortgage payments and keep their mortgages from simply lapsing into "bad paper." The big boys will get their money and people won't lose their shelter.

--And if you really want to get radical, just make grants. Don't expect repayment. It would be no worse than the billions flushed down the drain in Iraq. In fact it would be better -- directly benefiting U.S. citizens and killing no one.

--Have local banks that meet strict criteria for sound lending administer the program, service and hold the loans, or disburse the grants. This would establish local financial institutions and people as authorities in their communities. This would cultivate working financial relationships at the local level.

--Create a service corps of financial counselors who can work with consumers lacking financial literacy to help them get on the right track. This would create jobs for dislocated financial industry workers.

--Assist small businesses having difficulty getting loans for operating expenses. Rather than prop up unproductive financial gamblers, get the money to small companies that make things people need and provide vital services in small communities. This would keep people employed and maintain consumer spending, which accounts for nearly two thirds of all economic activity.

Granted, things are in such a state, that the fat cats will need a little hand out to keep going. But it would be obscene if Congress provided that corporate wefare with no commensurate support for small businesses, workers, families and children and communities.

Senators Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden will all be in Washington, D.C. after sundown to vote on the Wall Street "rescue plan". Main Street will be watching closely.

Democratic party leader receives threat against Obama

According to a report from WHMI, an FM radio station in Livingston County, Michigan:

"The Secret Service Agency is investigating a handwritten threat that came in the mail yesterday to the Livingston County Democratic Party Headquarters in Brighton Township. Party Chair Judy Daubenmier tells WHMI the handwritten unsigned note was addressed to her. Using racial slurs, the person suggested that it was their fondest hope that Barrack Obama “gets a bullet.” While the area has been noted for its history of racial tension, Daubenmier says when they knock on doors and make phone calls in the county they virtually never hear this type of offensive language. She says the view of this “one cowardly person” doesn’t reflect the general feelings of residents, which is unfortunate given the efforts to rid others’ stereotypically negative views of the area relating to race. Commander of the Michigan State Police Brighton Post Gene Kapp tells WHMI the complete document was handed over to the Secret Service, who will assist them in the investigation. Daubenmier says they will not be intimidated by the threat because they know it doesn’t represent the feelings of the broad community."

Anti-Obama attack ads in Macomb County

Michigan is so critical in the presidential election that Freedom's Defense Fund in Washington has launched an attack ad against Senator Obama in Macomb County, what should be a democratic stronghold.

The ad employs guilt by association and resurrects the Reverend Wright flap. "Barack Obama's spiritual adviser for more than two decades is America's sharpest critic," said Todd Zirkle, executive director of the Freedom's Defense Fund.

To see the ad click here.

According to a press release from the group, the ad is scheduled to run a saturated one-week schedule on cable news networks in Macomb County, Michigan.

"Our donors are demanding that we be strategically relevant in this campaign," continued Zirkle. "We will stay active in Macomb County, as we believe it critical to the Michigan outcome. Michigan will be a decisive to the national result."

Last week, the group ran an ad falsely linking Obama with former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Change, yes we can -- the McCain-Palin strategy of repackaging

Cross posted at Huffington Post

Obama says of McCain and Palin "You can’t just recreate yourself. You can’t just reinvent yourself. The American people aren’t stupid."

Oops. But, change? Yes, we can. The possibility to redefine and reinvent yourself is absolutely central to the American experience. It's at the heart of the immigrant story. Come to the new land, reinvent yourself and make your fortune. And if you make a mistake, try again and start over. This is the land of second, third and fourth chances. And rebranding.

Absent from McCain's claims of being a change agent is any admission that his past performance is wanting. He needs to pose as a change agent to win votes. The only reason for him to present himself as a reformer is to bait a citizenry ravenous for change in Washington -- he's betting that voters are so desperate for change, they can't think clearly and discern his rhetorical co-opting of Obama's message of change.

In fact, he seems to be taking a page from Dubya's 2000 campaign play book. McCain is claiming he'll "drain the swamp, "take 'em on" and "bring the right kind of change." While he sounds like a Clint Eastwood character, he actually sounds even more like Dubya on the campaign trail in 2000.

Here's how Dubya took aim at McCain in the 2000 election. From a New York Times article dated February 8, 2000:

"Bush proclaimed today that he was the true reformer in the Republican field and portrayed his chief opponent, Senator John McCain, as someone who 'says one thing and does another.'"

and...
"'If you're tired of no results and simple, empty rhetoric,' he said, 'if you're tired of people who say one thing and do another, come join our team.'"

McCain's Straight Talk Express, while an ironic joke to Obama supporters and intelligent, thoughtful observers, isn't about truth, facts or straight talk. It is about simple, short catch phrases -- verbal gestures that suggest populism and patriotism and the guy next door. The technique is meant to make a false impression, not to persuade on the merits of policy positions. It is calculated deceit to make McCain accessible to masses of voters who don't seem to realize that they're not going to have a beer with a guy owns seven houses and whose wife can afford a $300,000 outfit, no matter how plain spoken he presents himself on TV or at a town hall meeting.

The American people aren't stupid, just gullible and spent. And you only need to fool some of them in a very close race.

Unless Senator Obama has a brilliant trump card he's saving for the right moment, he'd better take off the gloves, quit being politely incredulous and let rip some real straight talk. If he delays much further, McCain's puffed-up fake populism and pretense of being a reformer might stick with voters.

The McCain--Palin road show: swagger and cheek in Michigan

McCain and Palin have hit the trail with swagger and cheek -- riding a post-convention boost in popularity straight into Michigan. Some Michiganders seem receptive to the story-telling road show, although many are resisting the snake oil. The hard facts of economic life in Michigan can't be cured with old-time remedies.

If this year's presidential campaigns were books, they'd be a western and an exhaustive non-fiction treatment of some tragic truth -- Louis L'Amour meets a remaindered tome on the demise of American industry. Which would you rather read in your off time? But we're not talking about picking summer reading; we're considering electing the next president of the United States.

The GOP is working one of its stock in trade strategies for electing presidents. Stick a cowboy hat on a guy (or gal) with a can-do attitude and you have a de facto American leader. Remember, Maverick is a legend of the west. And if your protagonist is a western hero in a white hat wrapped in the flag what does that make the other guy? Effete, over-intellectual, hand-wringing, unpatriotic...

What's worse, it doesn't have to be true to stick. Recently McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, told the Washington Post - that the election is "not about issues" but about "a composite view of what people take away from these candidates." Pure political pragmatism. This isn't about speaking truth to power; this is about power speaking myth to voters. This is about winning. Expect negative ads and plenty of misinformation.

A truckload of compelling facts can't necessarily compete with a myth, story and propaganda. Human beings are hardwired for stories. Our subconscious speaks in archetypes and the GOP knows this. So does team Obama, which has come this far thanks to strong message control and branding (Change, Yes we can).

Obama has a can-do attitude, but with a collective sensibility. McCain, on the other hand, is playing to American individualism. Obama wants to invite us to a barn raising with a big potluck afterwards. McCain wants to pace off at high noon and then fence off the back 48. Obama needs to remind voters that McCain will be a continuation of the last eight years. That swallowing more Bush administration "remedies" won't cure what ails us. That to elect McCain is like trying to heal an earache by blowing tobacco smoke into the ear and saying "pain, pain go away, go into a bale of hay." Sure, people tried it. It's even got quaint old west charm. But it doesn't work.

Bonior: the election will be "won at the margins"

Former John Edwards supporter, congressman David Bonior told Inter Press Service (Italy) the presidential election will "be won at the margins."

In an interview with IPS at the Democratic convention, Bonior allowed that the election will be a squeaker nationally and in Michigan.

Picking up that theme, Laura Bush today met with Michigan's delegation at the Republican convention and urged them to work hard for McCain, saying that "Michigan could be the Ohio of this time. Michigan could be the state that carries the ticket for us and carries the election for us."

In a very close race all it would take would be: a little caging, inadequate numbers of machines in heavily Democratic districts, aggressive GOP election challengers at polling places, long lines on a workday, strategic misinformation about where and when to vote, and misinformation about Michigan's voter ID law.

Back to work with Obama the "labor guy"

While a lot of bloggers surf the edge of the news cycle, hoping to be the first ashore with a brilliant insight, one can also take a break -- perhaps lounging under a shady tree with a refreshing drink, getting some perspective on what is really urgent and important. It could take an hour or, in my case, the entire month of August. So now it's back to work. There is a presidential race to parse!

Michigan, according to the latest polling numbers, seems to have morphed from a deep blue state into a pale blue swing state. The latest (8/18-8/21) EPIC-MRA poll of likely Michigan voters has Obama at 43 percent, McCain at 41 percent, undecided at 13 percent. Expect a lot of attention from the candidates as they attempt to solidify core supporters and woo undecideds.

Obama will be the "labor guy," as he told union organizers at Detroit's Hart Plaza yesterday. But what of McCain? Will he court west Michigan as the "family values guy" or will he leave that to running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with a gender-based division of campaign issues? Family stuff, that's women's work. McCain can deceptively appease the religious right trotting out Palin as a distraction from his mixed record on abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage.

According to the Detroit News, McCain's pick of Palin and his appearance at Saddleback megachurch earlier this month are winning the hearts and minds of social conservatives. Yet, it's the undecideds who are really up for grabs and they aren't a monolithic chunk of social conservatives or labor supporters.

Perhaps McCain will present himself as the "upper management guy" delivering more sober and pessimistic anti-union news to the people of Michigan as he did during the primary. However, telling Michigan voters that automotive jobs lost will never return won't win over marginally employed lunch-bucket Democrats, even if it is true.

Obama has a better spin on resuscitating Michigan's terminally ill automotive-centric economy. Automotive jobs lost (nearly half a million in the last ten years) can be replaced with work creating alternative energy -- green jobs -- and the federal government can subsidize the development of this sector. Sounds great. But how can he promise that Michigan will be the center for this activity? Lots of states could use the economic perk of a hot new technology sector and once a government program is established all states will want a shot at winning those jobs and dollars. Unless Michigan's congressional delegation has a lot of favors to call in, don't count on half a million green jobs for Michigan in 2009.

No Republican presidential candidate has carried Michigan since 1988. It is still a blue state. If Obama can appeal to the romantic memory of all that is good about labor unions and organizing and grassroots activity and community empowerment, he has an excellent chance in Michigan. If McCain patronizingly talks about inevitable demise of Michigan manufacturing through globalization and outsourcing, Obama has an excellent chance in Michigan. If McCain goes deceitfully negative, projecting fear and loathing of difference onto Obama, evoking unseen faceless enemies, things may get close.

From my shady spot though, this pleasant peninsula still looks like the perfect backdrop for Obama's economic narrative. Make it a "Main Street" election. Security begins with the pocketbook on the kitchen table.

Obama and McCain to stump at Saddleback mega-church

It's official. Obama and McCain will make a joint campaign appearance at Saddleback Church in California on August 16. Pastor Rick Warren said in a press release, "We're honored that the candidates chose The Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion for their first joint appearance, an unprecedented opportunity for America to hear both men back-to-back on the same platform."

According to Warren, each candidate will converse with him for one hour and all media are invited.

Both candidates recorded video messages for attendees at Saddleback's annual Global Summit on AIDS and The Church last November. Located in Orange County, Saddleback has about 22,000 members.

Michigan's May jobless rate hits 8.5 percent

Could the economy become a bigger election issue than gay marriage? Here in Michigan, it absolutely must.

With Michigan's unemployment reaching 8.5 percent in May, the highest rate in 16 years, Democrats have a golden opportunity to pitch a total overhaul of domestic economic policy. Just this week candidate Obama delivered an extensive economic policy speech in Flint.

According to the Washington Independent:
"Obama promised a $150-billion energy plan to create a green sector of the economy that would create 5 million jobs over the next 10 years. With that, he promised that jobs--"good jobs"--would return to Michigan. People would return to the assembly line, but this time to build hybrids and electric cars, along with the wind turbines that will supposedly power America in the years to come. He pledged to double federal funding for research and development at Michigan universities and to invest in high-speed rail."

In the meantime, as automakers continue to slash staffs, economic constriction will continue to choke Michigan. Each auto job lost represents multiple jobs in communities.

A pressing question: are social service agencies of Michigan positioned to meet the impending wave of demand?

Edwards endorses Obama, Oh my!

Never mind the delegates, in Michigan John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama today. Michigan, epicenter of American manufacturing decline, heart of the rust belt, and ground zero of the national recession served as poignant setting for labor's candidate to join forces with the Obama campaign.

This is a green light for Reagan democrats to support Obama. All those hardworking, blue-collar democrats can feel a little better about voting for Obama. An Edwards endorsement may diffuse insinuation about Obama's being anti-American. The all-American, self-made man has just endorsed him.

There may be talk of Edwards as Obama's running mate, but just imagine him as Attorney General. Takes your breath away.

Obama's call to Michigan's manufacturing soul

Senator Barak Obama called for a national manufacturing agenda to develop green energy and create up to 5 million jobs in a talk at Macomb Community College today.

"It’s time to recapture the spirit of innovation that has always fueled America’s economic success. It’s time we had an economy that was driven not just by foreign debt, but by the power of America’s imagination. It’s time to tap the ingenuity of engineers and entrepreneurs, policy experts and working folks to meet the challenges of our time," Obama said.

His proposed plan would invest $150 billion over the next ten years in the green energy sector via a Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund, and "create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund that will invest in innovation and job creation in places that have been hard hit by the decline in manufacturing," Obama said.

Obama alluded to unfair trade practices that have undercut American manufacturing, but didn't give specifics as to how he would enforce international agreements, saying he would make sure "that countries like China aren’t breaking the rules and putting American workers at a disadvantage."

The senator also called for a universal health care plan to alleviate economic stress on families, claiming he would implement a plan by the end of his first year in office. "Unlike John McCain, I have a universal health care plan. It’s a plan that will cut health care costs by up to $2500 per family per year and reduce costs for business and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses and conditions," Obama said.

For Democrats, selecting delegates is a dance hard to follow

cross posted at Michigan MessengerThe protracted battle for Democratic National Convention delegates between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is confusing to average voters, looks unseemly and worries Democrats whose party conflict is set in relief by the GOP's unified support of John McCain.

But according to an expert in electoral politics, the delegate selection process varies from state to state and includes ample opportunity for twists and turns that defy common sense.

When it comes to primary elections, "What the voting public doesn't understand is that the initial voting day is only the first step in a long process," said Stewart French, political science professor at Saginaw Valley State University. "The parties control their nomination process because they are private organizations. They get to determine the rules."

Each state Democratic party determines its own rules, which can be elaborate and lead to counterintuitive results. "For example in Texas, Hillary won the popular vote but lost the delegate vote because they have something they call the Texas Three Step," French said.

In the Texas process some delegates are awarded proportionate to the primary vote, but others are selected in the Three Step consisting of precinct caucuses, county conventions and then a state convention.

Michigan's process is not as complicated as that in Texas. Michigan has a primary election and then holds congressional-district conventions at which delegates are selected. What has confounded this year's process in Michigan is the "uncommitted." In the Jan. 15 primary "uncommitted" won 40 percent of the vote and Clinton won 55 percent. Clinton favors seating delegates in proportion to the election results. Obama favors a 50-50 split.

"Without `uncommitted' there'd be no battle," French said. It would be a straightforward process with the party selecting delegates at the congressional-district level.

The Michigan Democratic Party canceled congressional-district meetings that were to occur this weekend. They have been rescheduled for April 19 in anticipation of "some sort of deal that will allow the Michigan delegates to be seated" at the national convention, French said. Such a deal will likely determine the proportions by which delegates will be awarded to Clinton's and Obama's campaigns. The state party wants to be sure of the proportions -- which they want to be agreeable to both campaigns -- before selecting delegates.

Now that Florida and Michigan have ruled out re-votes of their disputed primaries, Clinton is vowing to take the battle for seating delegates all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. "Since Florida and Michigan have decided not to have a re-vote, the only thing left to get the delegates seated is to appeal to the Credentials Committee at the convention in August."

The Credentials Committee is the final arbiter in determining who actually is permitted to serve as a delegate. The committee has the power to let delegates from Michigan and Florida be seated even though those states broke party rules when they moved their primaries up from February. The national party as punishment has barred the delegates of both states from being seated at the convention.

French says that Clinton's maneuvers to eke out more delegates and her advocacy to seat Michigan and Florida delegates are aimed at increasing her delegate total and persuading superdelegates she is more electable than Obama.

"This is the last gasp of a campaign that has no statistical chance of winning," French said.