RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yesterday took their campaigns to Florida. Obama is on a three-day tour aimed at reintroducing himself to voters in an important swing state. Clinton came with a different mission. She says she's campaigning to make sure every vote cast in Florida's January primary is counted, and that every one of Florida's 210 delegates is seated at the party's convention.
NPR's Greg Allen has more.
GREG ALLEN: The last time either of these candidates held a public campaign event here was last fall. But then, because Florida scheduled its primary earlier than allowed under party rules, the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates. What's more, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pledged not to campaign here.
Voters here aren't used to being snubbed by presidential candidates. But when Barack Obama stepped onstage at a Tampa hockey arena yesterday, it was clear this crowd wasn't holding a grudge.
Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois; Democratic Presidential Candidate): Ah, it is good to be back in Florida.
(Soundbite of cheering)
ALLEN: Obama said with the results of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries, he now had a majority of the pledged delegates and was at the threshold of taking the Democratic presidential nomination. But while he held off from declaring victory, the mere fact that he's spending the rest of the week here is a clear sign that he's beginning to focus on the general election. As an important swing state, Florida will be crucial in the fall.
Sen. OBAMA: We want to turn the page and write a new chapter in American history, and we are going to do that right here in Florida, right here in Tampa.
ALLEN: Obama had a few kind words for Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, but otherwise used much of his speech to attack his presumed opponent in the general election, Republican Senator John McCain. One issue he did not touch on in Tampa was the question of whether Floridians' votes in the Democratic primary will be counted. Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, says it's an issue that he believes ultimately is not that important to Florida voters, who are looking ahead to the fall general election.
Mr. DAVID AXELROD (Chief Strategist, Barack Obama): I don't think at the end of the day, this is going to be the basis on which people vote. There's so many things at stake here that are larger than the issue of the primary. But I don't think people need to understand that we are thoroughly committed to seeing Florida fully represented at the convention.
ALLEN: But while Senator Obama didn't bring up the issue of the Florida primary, Senator Clinton did.
Senator HILLARY CLINTON (Democrat, New York; Democratic Presidential Candidate): I believe the Democratic Party must count these votes.
ALLEN: While Obama was campaigning in Central Florida, Clinton was further south, making stops in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, places that bring back memories of an earlier election controversy. There she departed from her usual stump speech to focus on an issue of personal interest, voting rights, specifically as they pertain to Democratic primary voters in Michigan and Florida.
The Clinton campaign says if you count the votes she won in Florida and Michigan and don't count Michigan's undecided ballots as votes for Obama, she would have a majority of the popular vote. In a speech in Boca Raton, she didn't talk about that. Instead, invoking the memory of the Suffragettes, and what for Floridians is an even more recent and resonant piece of history, the 2000 presidential recount.
Sen. CLINTON: The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal clear. If any votes aren't counted, the will of the people isn't realized and our democracy is diminished.
ALLEN: The issue of the Florida and Michigan primaries and the delegates awarded to the candidates by those votes is one that simmered for months. Both Clinton and Obama said they want to seat the delegates in this states. The question is how many and how they'll be divided.
In Florida, one compromise on the table would seat half the state's delegates. Depending how they're divided, Hillary Clinton could pick up as many as 19 -still not enough to help her catch Obama. That possible way out will be considered by the DNC's Rules Committee when it meets at the end of the month. But yesterday, Clinton said she believes all 210 of the state's delegates should be seated, and said in an interview with the Associated Press that if the states want to take the fight to the August convention, she'll support them.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Orlando. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
