Sunday Reading

With the DNC's Rules Committee finally meeting to resolve the 'Florigan' flap--and a bit of news breaking in Obamaland--Saturday was a busy day. Here are a few must-reads to keep you up-to-date:

FLA., MICH. DELEGATES EACH GET HALF A VOTE
(Dan Balz, Washington Post)
After hours of emotional testimony and sometimes contentious debate, Democratic Party officials agreed yesterday on a pair of compromises to seat Florida's and Michigan's delegations to their national convention. But a part of the deal drew an angry reaction and the threat of a subsequent challenge from the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The compromises by the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee called for both delegations, originally barred from the convention for violating party rules, to be seated in full in Denver but with each delegate casting only half a vote... The committee's decisions represented a significant setback to Clinton, who had passionately called for seating both delegations with full votes...

The Florida agreement included a provision calling for the delegates to be allocated on the basis of the state's Jan. 29 primary, a decision that would net Clinton 19 more delegates than Obama. Clinton's campaign had pushed for a proposal to seat the full delegation with full voting power, but when that failed, her supporters on the committee relented, and the compromise was approved without a dissenting vote, 27 to 0. But it was the Michigan plan, approved by a 19 to 8 vote, that drew sharper opposition because of the way that state's delegates will be awarded. Under the plan, Clinton will be given 34.5 delegate votes in Denver to Obama's 29.5 delegate votes, a percentage distribution recommended by leaders of the Michigan Democratic Party but opposed by the Clinton campaign officials, who said it violates the results of Michigan's Jan. 15 primary.

"This motion will hijack -- hijack -- remove four delegates won by Hillary Clinton," said Harold Ickes, who oversees delegate operations for the Clinton campaign and is also a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee. "This body of 30 individuals has decided that they're going to substitute their judgment for 600,000 voters." Arguing that the Michigan compromise "is not a good way to start down the path of party unity," Ickes warned that Clinton had authorized him to note that she will "reserve her rights to take it to the credentials committee" later. Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson later affirmed that Clinton will reserve her right to challenge the outcome.

Stumper here: FYI, under the RBC's decision, the new magic number is 2,118. With Florida and Michigan included, Clinton now has 1,877 delegates, a gain of 87; Obama is up 63 to 2,052. That puts him a mere 66 delegates away from clinching the nomination. If Obama loses today in Puerto Rico by the expected margin--say, 15 points--and wins South Dakota and Montana by 10 to 16, he'll gain about 40 delegates and need only 25 superdels to put him over the top on Tuesday. Amid reports that his team is secretly banking a few dozen of these decisive party officials, who were reluctant to intervene in the middle of the process but won't be as shy once voting is over, expect Obama to cross the finish line within days, if not hours, of the closing of the final primary polls. Clinton has signaled that she will fight the RBC's Michigan decision--see above--but that battle cry might just be a bargaining chip; either way, it's unclear how long she can sustain such a crusade after officially losing the nomination. We shall see.

(For more on Clinton's potential departure, check out Adam Nagourney et al in today's New York Times. "Despite the fireworks, Mrs. Clinton’s associates said she seemed to have come to terms over the last week with the near certainty that she would not win the nomination, even as she continued to assert, with what one associate described as subdued resignation, that the Democrats are making a mistake in sending Mr. Obama up against Senator John McCain," they write. "Her associates said the most likely outcome was that she would end her bid with a speech, probably back home in New York, in which she would endorse Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton herself suggested on Friday that the contest would end sometime next week.")

Now, with some color from Saturday's festivities, here's the always-caustic Dana Milbank: 

DEMOCRATS COME TOGETHER TO TEAR THEIR PARTY IN HALF
(Dana Milbank, Washington Post)
When the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee met at the Marriott in Woodley Park yesterday to decide what to do with the contested primary results in Florida and Michigan, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean kicked off the session by suggesting they avoid a "food fight." Good luck with that. "Alice in Wonderland." "Willy-nilly." "Totally incorrect." "This way lies chaos." "An arbitrary formula." "My mama always taught me to play by the rules." "Cheating." "Let's cancel 2012." And that was just from the members of the committee. The Floridians and Michiganders were equally unruly ("My state has already suffered enough!"), and the audience became a mob, answering the participants with boos, hisses, cheers and commentary: "Revote! . . . Answer! Answer! . . . Go, Donna! . . . Shut up!"...

The lack of decorum in the hall was barely elevated from that on the sidewalk outside the hotel, where several hundred Hillary Clinton supporters chanted "Count every vote!" and waved signs announcing "Count my vote or count me out." A smaller number of Barack Obama supporters kept their distance. One woman, passing by a 4-year-old girl and her mother carrying pro-Clinton signs, shouted at them: "Cheater!" The chaos and vitriol seemed to confirm Democrats' fears that they might blow an election that should otherwise be an easy victory for them. 

Meanwhile, as chaos reigned in Washington, D.C., news broke in Chicago that Obama has decided to leave his controversial church:

OBAMA QUITS CHURCH AFTER MONTHS OF CRITICISM
(Michael Powell, New York Times)
Mr. Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, wrote a letter on Friday to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Otis Moss, explaining that their estrangement from Trinity took root in controversial remarks by the church’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who once was Mr. Obama’s spiritual guide. “Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views,” they wrote. “These controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction for other Trinity members who seek to worship in peace, and have placed you in an untenable position.” Mr. Obama rejected suggestions that he denounce the church, which is one of Chicago’s largest and most socially active black churches, with a wide array of respected social programs. Several of the most prominent black theologians in Chicago attend the church. “I’m not denouncing the church, and I’m not interested in people who want me to denounce the church,” he said in response to a question. “It’s not a church worthy of denouncing.” Mr. Obama said that his resignation was not a matter of political convenience, but rather that he had reached the point where neither he nor Trinity’s pastors and congregants could worship in peace. He noted that reporters now pored over sermons and that some had called sick members at home to ask about the church. “I suspect if you were in my shoes, it seems plausible at least that you wouldn’t want your church experience to be a political circus,” Mr. Obama said. “I think most Americans will understand that.”