May 11, 2008 (LPAC)--Howard Dean's Democratic National Committee violated its own stated rules in the matter of the Florida and Michigan primaries, and by violating them, created a completely unnecessary crisis for the Party, stated Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe on May 11.

McAuliffe's charge, which had not been made before, raised the possibility that he is moving toward getting `Screamin' Dean dumped as DNC Chairman; and that potential for dumping Dean was magnified by Dean's own, astonishing televised remarks today on CNN's "Late Edition," in which he clearly appeared to be touting the Presidential qualifications of Republican Sen. John McCain, at some length, over those of Sen. Barack Obama.

Appearing on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation," McAuliffe said that the rules of the DNC--of which he is a former chairman--allow it to take away up to half--not all--of the delegates of a state which holds its primary in violation of DNC procedures. (This is what the RNC did, in the case of Florida.) If Dean's DNC had followed the rules, said McAuliffe, at that time its action would probably have been accepted by the Clinton campaign. Instead, a party crisis was created by Dean's complete disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan.

Now, Senator Clinton wants all the Florida and Michigan delegates seated, McAuliffe said, and she will pursue her campaign for the nomination to the Democratic National Convention, to ensure those delegations' rights.

He added that by current polls, Clinton would win Florida by 10% of Republican John McCain, while Obama would lose it to McCain by 10%.