2025 or 2210 ?

The latest "metric" (I'm starting to hate certain words and phrases) of the Hillary campaign is that the delegate total to reach nomination is 2210, despite their repeated uses of 2025 following the disallowed FL/MI primaries. They get there by using those state's fully allotted delegate slates. Since the first clause of DNC rules regarding inadvertent violation stipulate a 50% delegate penalty that would seem outright flaunting of the rules, the 100% penalty is for an egregious violation, which both states did. I am no fan of punishing voters, but I am also no fan of changing rules in midstream after all candidates agreed; there is simply no measure of any accuracy to be obtained from the results. The candidates all agreed to the penalties because to do otherwise would be unfair to candidates following the rules and punishing them for following the rules. There were no Democratic Presidential Primaries held in either state. Period.

Not seating FL/MI is not politically smart, but neither is seating them in an unfair fashion. Hillary would have it her way and no other way, despite having no ethical leg to stand on. This is exactly the kind of behavior that will cement the resentment of the citizens of those states towards the Democratic Party. Whatever other political manuevers Hillary has taken that offend some in the Party, this one is the most offensive and divisive.

The political problem with this stand of 2210 is that it is mathematically stupid, it raises the bar for Hillary even higher than it was at 2025, the delegates gained in the two states don't get her to 2025 much less a higher number. Add into the inability to do simple addition the irritation level raised within the DNC and you have (sorry here comes multiplication) stupidity squared. No organization as complex as the DNC can function without rules. The idea that something that encompasses 50 states and territories, varied races, varied genders, varied economic interests, varied etc ad nauseum groups like the DNC can function without adherence to rules of conduct is beyond ludicrous. You might as well turn 650 three year olds loose alone in a house and expect it to be spic and span when you return - and the dishes done and dinner cooked.

Democrats are a fractious group to begin with and leaving them without a rudder is an invitation to disaster. Despite the linked agendas someone or someones will try for an edge in their particular piece of the agenda. The gloves come off and at the end the most powerful win and the losers are quite angry. This is already playing out in the Primaries, there are a lot of hurt feelings and potentially hurt feelings. The Rules and Bylaws Committee will decide how to deal with this, but Hillary has already pushed it past the point where any decision will not leave anger in its wake. If I didn't fear the results of more Republican rule, I'd be satisfied to watch this go to the Convention Floor as a brawl and blow the Party apart for awhile - as long as it resulted in the complete extinction of the Clinton brand. On this basis alone.