Florida Demonstrators Challenge Obama To "Respect Our Votes"; DNC Ends Blackout on Rules Committee Meeting

May 22, 2008 (LPAC)--Members of Florida Demands Representation (FDR) are taking their demand for Florida's voters' rights to have their delegation seated at the Democratic National Convention, directly to Sen. Barack Obama who is currently on a campaign swing through Florida. Demonstrators numbering from 50 to 100 greeted Obama at the first two of in his numerous campaign stops; holding signs reading "Florida to Obama; No You Can't". According to FDR state chair, Jim Hannagan, the group will demonstrate on each of the three days that Obama is in the state, and a group of Orthodox Jews have been gathering since 7:00 am Thursday at a synagogue where Obama was expected to speak at 2:00 pm.

Hannagan reiterated that the group, which endorses neither Hillary Clinton nor Obama, believes that the Democratic National Committee, in not recognizing the Florida primary vote, is damaging the Party, perhaps irreparably. Hannagan says that they have had not response yet from Obama; but that Senator Clinton"s speech in Palm Beach on May 21st represented the kind of elevation of the debate that `FDR' seeks from both candidates. Clinton located the Constitutional rights of Floridians in the context of the long process of ending slavery and winning the right to vote for all Americans.

FDR is plans a major demonstration at the May 31st meeting of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee in Washington. Updates on their plans are available at www.floridademandsrepresentation.org Howard Dean's DNC made public today the location of the Rules meeting, which the `FDR' group had been seeking.

Hannagan, saying that the Democratic primary process must be permitted to play out until the Convention in August, noted that even a great leader like Abraham Lincoln did not win the nomination on the first ballot. On May 21st, American statesman Lyndon LaRouche issued a statement on Florida, citing Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and noting that the proposal by DNC Chair Howard `Scream' Dean to count Florida's 1.7 million Democratic voters as 1/2 voters, represented a return to the condition of slavery that existed before Lincoln's Proclamation. "At least slaves were counted as 3/5 of a citizen, for purposes of distribution of Congressional seats" LaRouche noted.