Howard Dean, Goofball

I've written before that I always kind of liked Howard Dean and though he got a bad rap in 2004 for a number of things--that scream, his outrageous claim, which happened to turn out to be true, that capturing Saddam would not necessarily slow the rise of American casualties or make the war more winnable. His draconian sanctions of Michigan and Florida have left the democratic part in the insane position of trying to figure out how not to completely disfranchise voter in these two pivotal states. Here is the Cooper solution. Separate the two states and deduct from their two delegate totals based on their sin.

First, Florida didn't ask for this mess. The GOP-controlled legislature moved up the primary date and Dean imposed his brutal sanction. Michigan Democrats, on the other hand, really thought they could muscle their way to the head of the line. Why not take 20 percent off the delegate totals for Florida as a modest penalty for their having jumped the line but have a much higher penalty of 70 percent against Michigan and let Michigan's ballots be apportioned according to a formula from uncommitted congressman, Bart Stupak. It's not an ideal solution but it at least acknowledges two salient facts. Florida didn't jump the line intentionally and Obama's name was on the ballot in the Sunshine State. Both he and Clinton were equally disadvantaged there. In a perfect world, no vote would count more than others. But smaller states are disproportionally represented in the electoral college, the Senate, and the nominating process. We do tilt the scales sometimes. This is one tilt that might put things back in order. Of course, if Obama can knock out Clinton in Pennsylvania--he has three weeks to close the gap--all this would be moot.

No matter what, Howard Dean has allowed this thing to get completely out of control. To have imposed these intense sanctions was one thing. To have no plan B is really something.