MIFL

There seems to be a recent spate of articles about what Hillary did wrong or Obama did right in their campaigns. Michigan and Florida obviously appear in almost every article but, more often than not, the discussion focuses on how the issue will/could be resolved and that, ultimately, Obama has the votes and delegates to win, regardless of how the DNC rules.
But what if Florida and Michigan had adhered to party rules? All research indicates that Hillary would win each state handily. When you see what winning Iowa - a state almost devoid of delegates, holding import based purely on it's position as the first contest - did for Obama's campaign and voters' perception of him as a viable candidate, one can only imagine what winning Michigan and Florida - two of the most important electoral states based on delegates and demographics - before Super Tuesday would have done for HRC's campaign. I'm admittedly more than glad that Florida and Michigan fucked her but an interesting "what if...?" nonetheless.

Excerpt below:

Michigan and Florida

The importance of these two states being relegated to the sidelines — because they defied the Democratic Party and held their primaries earlier than party rules allowed — can not be overstated.

For Mrs. Clinton, the best of all worlds would have been for the Democratic National Committee to do what the Republican National Committee did to Florida and Michigan for breaking the rules: cut the delegations in half, but still permit the primaries to go on. That outcome — assuming she won in Michigan and Florida, which seems a pretty good bet — might have given Mrs. Clinton a burst of momentum going into the “Super Tuesday” primaries of Feb. 5, and possibly allowed her to emerge that day with a significant lead in delegates, not to mention the popular vote; with a line-up of big state victories; and perhaps with enough momentum to withstand the 11-state winning streak that Mr. Obama reeled off after Feb. 5.

The Clinton campaign was acutely aware of the problem from the start. They were out-maneuvered, particularly when the four states that started the process — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — got the other candidates to sign an agreement pledging not to campaign in Michigan and Florida, thereby throwing into question the legitimacy of any voting there.