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I'm not sure whether the shape of the table was one of the points of disagreement.
Here's the announcement:
Clinton and Obama Campaigns Agree on Ground Rules For Vote Counting Process
Agreement Paves the Way For Smooth Counting Process
(Albuquerque, NM) Today, the Democratic Party of New Mexico and the presidential campaigns of Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama reached an agreement of standards for qualifying the 17,276 provisional ballots cast during the February 5th New Mexico Presidential Preference Caucus. The agreement determines how ballots will be verified and qualified.
"With this unprecedented turnout and close margin between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, both campaigns and the Democratic Party of New Mexico agreed to establish ground rules for the qualification of provisional ballots prior to the official count, thus assuring a more fair, consistent and transparent vote counting process," said Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon. "Often the vote counting process begins without agreement and is slowed by disagreement over the treatment of individual ballots, but by agreeing to common, inclusive standards the two campaigns and the party are taking the unprecedented step of preventing disagreement before it starts."
"Both campaigns have successfully worked together to reach a framework from which to move forward and ensure New Mexicans voices are heard in this process," Mara Lee, State Director for the Hillary Clinton Campaign.
"Today is a step forward in counting the thousands of provisional ballots in a transparent and fair way. We look forward to continuing to work with the New Mexico Democratic Party and the DNC to complete this process in the days to come," Carlos Monje, Jr, Obama State Director.
Comments
Knowing that Governor Richardson was candidate, and that there was a "favorite son" element to the process, along with the factor that a poorly administered Presidential caucus would reflect poorly on that candidacy, the question was brushed aside.
Of course, I didn't go forward on those thoughts, and the Governor abandoned his Presidential effort following the NH primary. But the budget that was allocated for the process was reduced to $250,000, with reduced polling sites and expedient processes for which there was no flexibility to deal with the reality of contested delegates.
This in large part led to the current "incompetent situation". We can only hope that the learned lessons will be fully explored, and not given the non-committal
defer, deny and deflect excuses that usually accompany New Mexico's political scene.
My best regards,
Eliot Gould
Santa Fe