Florida Versus DNC

The DNC told states who got to run their Primaries first and what was the earliest date other states could use. Florida didn't like the rules and set their Primary earlier, stating that they deserved the attention. DNC disagreed and voted to strip the state of its delegates to the Convention if they went ahead. Florida sued.

Florida argued that it was a violation of the Constitution to not count the people's vote, the DNC argued that it had a right to set the schedule. A Federal judge dismissed Florida's argument. WaPo's Michael Shear quotes Sen Bill Nelson vowing to fight on:

"This fight is not over. This fight is going to go on another day," Nelson said. "This decision in the court today just emboldens by determination to not let party bosses make the decision over the people's right to vote."

I'm sorry, Bill's an ass. The question is not whether the people can vote, and even have their vote counted, the question is what the DNC has to do with that. Note the "N" in DNC, that is National; it is not "N"for Florida. Florida Democrats have options to have their delegates counted, but their early Primary isn't one. DNC sets the rules for its Convention, Florida doesn't get to.

There are probably better ways to run a Primary season than the way it is now. I recently read a suggestion that the Primaries be set across the entire 6 months with the smallest going first, working up to the biggest progressively. That actually seems like it might have some merit, though squeezing 50 separate Primaries into 180 days might be really rough on candidates. It does have the benefit of allowing campaigns some time to build momentum and practice for a lower price tag. Frankly (heresy) I think the Super Duper Tuesday is stupidity piled onto an already money loaded election system.

Michigan and Florida have pointed up the weakness in the Super Tuesday Primaries, states get lost and candidates just cannot barnstorm all those states in the time between the early States and February 5th. Campaigns that might grow, 2nd tier, are killed off by the early big money campaigns and the onerous demands of hitting the big markets all at once. This benefits, in this case, Hillary and Obama but there are other voices out there with other ideas and Democrats deserve to hear them and should hear them. Money will always be in elections, but there is no need to aid its influence.