Oh, Michigan and Florida... I'm of the opinion that the DNC went INCREDIBLY easy on them this time around, particularly for breaking the primary calendar (and threatening to break the back of the Democratic primary system itself), but they are actually VERY different when you get close enough to look at both.
Florida was actually not all the Democrats' fault. The state legislature (Republican dominated) voted to move up the primaries, and the Democrats were forced with a choice - have a token primary that doesn't count in early January, and a caucus later on that would have to be paid for entirely by state party money... or take the Republican-forced primary and run with it. The Republicans knew that their party's penalties would be a slap on the wrist, and used that advantage to screw the Democrats - and the worst part is that the Democrats knew it, and couldn't really do anything about it. So they resigned themselves to the early primary, the campaigning embargo, and the threat of lost delegates, all the while trying to convince the Democratic National Committee that it really wasn't ALL their fault. I'm 100% certain that self-awareness of their own futile struggle in this case played a big part in discouraging Floridian Democratic voter turnout. If they were ABSOLUTELY forced to, I'm sure they would have agreed to a re-vote or caucus, as that was their backup plan anyway - but the state party wants to save its money for the downticket (state legislature, etc.) campaigns, if it can. Florida Democrats can use all the help they can get, so I'm inclined to be a bit more sympathetic to them.
Jeff's Rant, Part 1
Florida was actually not all the Democrats' fault. The state legislature (Republican dominated) voted to move up the primaries, and the Democrats were forced with a choice - have a token primary that doesn't count in early January, and a caucus later on that would have to be paid for entirely by state party money... or take the Republican-forced primary and run with it. The Republicans knew that their party's penalties would be a slap on the wrist, and used that advantage to screw the Democrats - and the worst part is that the Democrats knew it, and couldn't really do anything about it. So they resigned themselves to the early primary, the campaigning embargo, and the threat of lost delegates, all the while trying to convince the Democratic National Committee that it really wasn't ALL their fault. I'm 100% certain that self-awareness of their own futile struggle in this case played a big part in discouraging Floridian Democratic voter turnout. If they were ABSOLUTELY forced to, I'm sure they would have agreed to a re-vote or caucus, as that was their backup plan anyway - but the state party wants to save its money for the downticket (state legislature, etc.) campaigns, if it can. Florida Democrats can use all the help they can get, so I'm inclined to be a bit more sympathetic to them.