Florida, Michigan seating raises hackles

By Brian C . Mooney, Globe Staff

DENVER -- The delegations from Florida and Michigan, once the black sheep of this Democratic National Convention, have not only been given restored full voting rights but also primo seating on the floor of the Pepsi Center.

That has caused some grumbling among the rules sticklers who believe the states have escaped punishment for jumping their primaries earlier than national party rules allowed.

But James Roosevelt, the Massachusetts superdelegate who co-chaired both party committees that adjudicated the dispute, takes a longer view. Initially, the rules committee agreed to seat the big-state delegates but with half votes per delegate. On Sunday, the credentials committee restored the states to full voting status.

"Some people say the message is that rules don't matter," said Roosevelt, whose day job is CEO of the Tufts Health Plan. The more important message, conveyed not only in the reinstatement of their full voting privileges but also in awarding them choice seats on the convention floor, Roosevelt said, is "it shows we want to win in November."

Both are swing states which big blocs of votes in the Electoral College, and some Democrats believe voters would be put off by Democratic Party punishment.

And both states did suffer, Roosevelt asserted, first by having candidates ignore their primary contests, both won by Hillary Clinton, and then in the assignment of hotel rooms, which were given out before their status was restored. Many delegations and media outlets are staying in outlying commercial office parks and along highways in the suburbs and exurbs of Denver.

But for the Michigan and Florida delegations, the accommodations are even worse, scattered among eight far-flung hotels, Roosevelt said. The St. Petersburg Times described the Sunshine State delegation's lodging situation this way: "Florida's delegation is split among three hotels featuring views of warehouses, Interstate 70, and an occasional shuttered strip joint."