I guess I was misremembering. My apologies, Beet.
Well, misremembering on the whole FL/MI mess is understandable, since the media has repeatedly screwed up the facts in their reporting.
Here are the points the media repeatedly gets wrong:
IA & NH cheated too, but the DNC rewrote the rules for them rather than punish them.
The DNC never asked the candidates not to campaign in FL & MI, and they never asked anyone to remove their names from the ballot. That was all done by the candidates to appease IA/NH/NV/SC.
Clinton suddenly started complaining about how FL & MI should be seated right around the end of January, when she no longer had to worry about pandering to the four chosen early states. (This isn't misreported so much as it's never mentioned....at all.)
There is a difference between Michigan and Florida law. Candidates did not have to file in either State, with the SoS putting anyone on the ballot who had a credible candidacy. A candidate could also file if they were left off this initial list.
In both States, a candidate could then file to get off the ballot. In Florida, there was a requirement that the candidate had abandoned their quest for Presidency. So if a candidate had told the Florida SoS that they wanted off the ballot, the Florida SoS would investigate.
When the Michigan primary was initially overturned on the voter list issue, and the Michigan legislature was trying to reinstitute it, they included a similar clause to that in Florida. They were unable to get a 2/3 majority for an emergency clause that would let the law take effect in time for the primary, and ultimately were unable to get the House to pass the bill at all. But then the Michigan Supreme Court overturned the lower court decision, and it was all moot - except for which candidates had self-excluded themselves from the ballot.
