WASHINGTON — The question at Saturday's Democratic Party hearing on disputed primaries was whether Hillary Rodham Clinton would emerge with any greater hopes for becoming her party's nominee for president.
But for people listening to the daylong hearing of the Democratic National Committee's rules panel, it was a peek under the hood of democracy -- and at one of its fundamental questions: How do you measure the will of the people?
It sounds simple. Even schoolchildren know how to hold a student council election: one kid, one vote.
But Saturday's debate over how to treat the results of the Michigan and Florida primaries -- which could have given Clinton's troubled campaign an eleventh-hour boost -- showed how messy the process can get.
Elections are driven by rules, which can change midgame. Voters may give ambiguous answers to simple questions, such as which candidate they prefer. The day was reminiscent of the civics lesson of 2000, when the presidential vote recount forced the nation to come to grips with the concept of "hanging chads."
Clinton's camp argued that the results of the Michigan and Florida primaries should be honored -- even though voters were told the results would not count because the states had violated party rules by holding their primaries too early.
"Let's count every vote!" was the Clinton rallying cry.
Barack Obama's allies argued that the Florida and Michigan results did not reflect the will of the people. Obama had followed the party's edict and did not campaign in either state; his name did not even appear on the ballot in Michigan.
Allan Katz, an Obama supporter and rules panel member from Florida, called it an "Alice in Wonderland election."
In 2000, Florida officials were left to divine the will of voters who had not properly completed their ballots.
On Saturday, questions about voter intent became almost metaphysical. As the only major candidate on the Michigan ballot, Clinton won that primary with 55% of the vote. How many of her voters would have chosen someone else if another choice had been offered?
About 40% of Michigan voters chose "uncommitted." How many of them would have voted for Obama?
"You had an incomplete ballot" in Michigan, said the state's Democratic Party chairman, Mark Brewer. "It did not give us a true picture of Democratic voters."
