Clinton Advisor Who Pushed to Have Delegates Stripped from Florida and Michigan, Now Wants Them Included

Even though he was one of the people who pushed for the removal of delegates from Florida and Michigan just a few months ago, Clinton operative Harold Ickes has now flip flopped and (because his candidate is struggling) wants to add the stripped delegates... AFTER the vote has already taken place under the sanctions.

The effort to steal the election has officially begun, as Clinton & Co. begin to lobby to have Michigan & Florida added to the process.... AFTER the candidates had agreed not to campaign in those States... and there was no real competition there. There is no doubt that the delegate issue had an impact on voter turnout in those two States, so I don't know how those delegates could be added in good conscience. Furthermore, Obama was not even on the ballot in Michigan.

However, Nancy Pelosi - one of the Democratic Party chiefs- believes that the nomination should not be decided based on delegates from Florida and Michigan.

See report from the Kansas City Star:

Clinton aide who backed sanctions against Florida and Michigan now wants to end them

WASHINGTON - A top adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign voted for Democratic Party rules that stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates.

Now Harold Ickes is arguing against the very penalty he helped pass.

In a conference call Saturday, Ickes said the Democratic National Committee should reconsider its sanctions on the two states, which held early contests in violation of party rules.

He said millions of voters in Michigan and Florida would be otherwise disenfranchised.

Ickes explained that his different position essentially is due to the different hats he wears as both a DNC member and a Clinton adviser in charge of delegate counting.

Clinton won the primary votes in Michigan and Florida, and now she wants those votes to count.

“We had promulgated rules,” Ickes said, “and those rules said the timing provision … provides for certain sanctions, automatic sanctions as a matter of fact, if a state such as Michigan or Florida violates those timing provisions.

“With respect to the stripping, I voted as a member of the Democratic National Committee. Those were our rules, and I felt I had an obligation to enforce them,” he said.

Clinton won after all the Democratic candidates agreed not to campaign in either state because they violated the party rules.

Clinton, who flew into Florida on primary eve but did not hold a public rally, argued that her rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, had violated the pledge by airing a national ad campaign that also showed on Florida television stations.