Spirit of pledge violated, some say

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., recently pledged not to campaign in states besides Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina if they hold presidential nominating contests before Feb. 5.

But on Monday, Clinton was speaking to a group of senior citizens in Boca Raton, Fla., a state whose legislature recently set its presidential primary for Jan. 29.

Because of a loophole in the pledge that Clinton and the other major Democratic candidates signed, she wasn't breaking her word, nor were the candidates who joined her at a debate in Miami on Sunday. But the activity prompted a Democratic official in Nevada, one of the four states whose primacy the campaign pledge was designed to protect, to question the candidates' dedication to the spirit of the promise they made.

Appearances such as Clinton's "may not be in violation of the pledge, but they are not within its true spirit," Clark County Democratic Party Chairman John Hunt said Monday.

"My position isn't directed just at Senator Clinton. I would hope that everyone maintains the spirit of it (the pledge), because in Nevada we've invested so much in this caucus, and we don't want that work being somewhat diminished," said Hunt, who has not endorsed a candidate and says he will remain neutral.

Nevada was selected by the Democratic National Committee to hold presidential nominating contests in January 2008, during the influential early window that can give candidates crucial momentum to catapult them to the nomination, along with Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The first-ever Nevada early caucus on Jan. 19 has prompted unprecedented attention to the state from the Democratic candidates, who have hired dozens of staffers and made frequent visits.

Under the rules of the Democratic National Committee, other states are forbidden to hold their contests before Feb. 5. If they flout the rule, states are to lose their delegates to the party's national convention.

Nonetheless, legislatures in Michigan and Florida have scheduled primaries for Jan. 15 and Jan. 29, respectively. Late last month, the party took a hard line, voting at a meeting of the Rules and Bylaws Committee to deprive Florida of Democratic convention delegates if the state party doesn't come up with an alternative plan within 30 days.

On Aug. 31, the state Democratic parties of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina asked candidates to promise not to "campaign or participate in any state which schedules a presidential election primary or caucus before Feb. 5, 2008, except for the states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina."

By the next day, all the major candidates had signed the pledge, including Clinton, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Chris Dodd, former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. But the fact that all except Biden were in Florida a week later raises the question of whether the pledge has any teeth.

Democratic officials said ahead of time that the candidates could attend Sunday night's Univision debate in Miami without violating the pledge because the Florida Democratic Party technically still has 30 days from the committee's decision -- until Sept. 25 -- to come into compliance with party rules.

Clinton didn't seek advance clearance for her Boca Raton event, nor did Chris Dodd for a Florida appearance on Saturday announcing his policy on Cuba, both events that were more specifically geared toward appealing to Florida voters than Sunday's nationally televised debate.

But both campaigns cited the same justification, the 30-day window, and party officials said they were in the clear.

"Florida still has 30 days to comply with DNC rules," Nevada Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Kirsten Searer said Monday. "If Florida chooses not to comply with the rules by that time, we expect Senator Clinton and the rest of the candidates to honor the pledge they made to the residents of Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to skip campaigning there."

Democratic officials in the other early states made similar statements Monday.

Hunt, the Clark County chairman, said even if the letter of the pledge allows candidates to keep going to Florida until the end of the month, they ought to refrain from doing so.

"I understand that at this point in time there is a sort of a grace period," he said. "But I would hope that even if that technicality does exist, people, in the true spirit of the pledge, wouldn't take advantage of it."

The Clinton campaign said it was not exploiting a loophole but giving Florida Democrats a fair chance to get it right.

"Florida is within its 30-day window to present a plan to the DNC," Clinton spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said Monday. "The (scheduling) process is still in play in Florida and Michigan right now, and hopefully they will come back with a plan that will allow us to campaign in all 50 states."

Florida Democrats are reportedly looking to declare the Jan. 29 primary nonbinding and schedule a later contest that would be the official one for the purpose of assigning delegates.

The Jan. 29 primary would still occur; having been set by the state legislature and signed into law, there's little chance it will not go forward. "Florida has taken steps to show they are revisiting their plan," Grey said. "They are going to be going back to the DNC, and it's only fair to give that process a chance to play out."

Another Clinton spokesman, Mo Elleithee, was with Clinton in Florida on Monday and said her talk and question-and-answer session with about 900 senior citizens, which focused on health care and social security, was well received.

He said the Clinton campaign shouldn't be singled out for its interpretation of the pledge when "all but one of the candidates who signed the pledge were in Miami yesterday (Sunday) campaigning."

Even if Florida Democrats schedule a later, binding contest, candidates would apparently still be barred from campaigning there until Jan. 30, Searer noted.

Democratic bylaws say candidates can't campaign in states with unauthorized, state-scheduled primaries prior to Feb. 5 until after the forbidden contests are over.

"A presidential candidate who campaigns in a state where the state party is in violation of the timing provisions of these rules, or where a primary or caucus is set by a state's government on a date that violates the timing provisions of these rules, may not receive pledge delegates or delegate votes from that state," the bylaw says. "Candidates may, however, campaign in such a state after the primary or caucus that violates these rules."