Dem
51
GOP
49
Every state has its own, distinct policies and procedures for running caucuses, or primaries, or both. In the case of Florida, it is up to the state-level party organs to submit lists of candidates they deem to have qualified, with a deadline of November 1. The Florida Democratic Party submitted its list on time, and it had one name: Joe Biden. Under the terms of Florida state law, that means there will be no Democratic primary.
Marianne Williamson is still figuring out how this comports with her aura, and so she apparently hasn't said much about being shut out. But Rep. Dean Phillips (DFL-MN) is furious. He is making all the standard threats, including filing a lawsuit, waging a write-in campaign, pitching a fit at the Democratic convention, etc.
There are two possible explanations for what happened here. The first is that the people who run state party organs tend to be loyal party men and women, and so may have done what they could to give a (small) assist to the presumed nominee of the Party. The second is that the November 1 deadline arrived just days after Phillips declared, and so there was no way he could be deemed a serious candidate at that time. Of course, he's not a serious candidate now, either. If you asked us to speculate as to which theory is correct, we would guess it's a little bit of #2 and a whole lot of #1.
We are inclined to doubt this little bit of maneuvering, which is pretty inside baseball, will have much of an effect, no matter how much Phillips carps about it. If he was the champion of the liberal wing of the party, or if he was a Black woman, or if he had some other distinctive, suspicious-of-Biden constituency to be outraged on his behalf, then maybe. But Phillips has no such constituency. So, he's basically just shouting into the void. (Z)