Florida Democratic Party has stated that it intends to stick with its early Primary date of January 29 in the face of Democratic National Committee rules which call for stripping violators of their delegates. The DNC is firmly attached to the position that willy-nilly primary scheduling is a recipe for disaster and chaos, Florida is wedded to the idea that their early primary guarantees them the influence they deserve prior to the large February 5th. AP quotes Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, "The 4 million Florida Democrats will be enfranchised. We will make sure Florida Democrats have a voice and that voice will be heard." She further added that they "fully expect that delegation to be seated."
The state part looked at options such as holding a caucus or mail in vote but FDC Chairwoman Karen said, "But at the end of the day, we came down on the side of having a fair and open election, along with making sure that we had a lot of representation in this state." Steve Geller State Senate Democratic Leader lays the blame at the feet of the early states charging them with pushing the DNC to enforce the rules and "punish" candidates who campaign in states that jumped the order. "I don't see how it's not a violation of the voting rights act," Geller said, because Florida voters will now only be able to hear candidates speak at private functions, which have an entry fee. For the record, the candidates voluntarily signed a pledge not to campaign in those states. Michigan has January 15 scheduled, also outside of the DNC rules, which are Iowa - Jan 14, Nevada - Jan 19, New Hampshire - Jan 22, South Carolina - Jan 29.
There really probably is a better way to conduct a primary election than the current model, the problem is that it is not to simply have every self-important state leapfrogging the others. There is no state in the Union that cannot claim some important issues or having been rendered moot by earlier votes. Something that seems to miss these folks is that with as crowded a ticket as there is this time, it is quite possible that the later states will have a disproportionate influence. Oregon at May 5th can only hope so...
5 comments:
I see a direct challenge to the party big shots, could be the people are starting to demand an end to the way things are. I hope the Reublicans will get on board too. For too long a few insiders have selected candidates at the primaries and by the time the people start paying attention the good candidates have been weeded out. Is an independent movement starting inside the parties?
I have doubts that there will still be play by the time of the Oregon primary with only Idaho, Montana and South Dakota following, but it would be nice if Pennsylvania (the only primary in April)mattered.
Schedule the best as the "Blogging Ceasar" knows: http://www.electionprojection.com/calendar08.html
As I recall, Kerry pretty much had it sown up by the time Oregon voted in '04. Edwards had certainly dropped out by then, maybe everybody but Kerry, Sharpton, and Kucinich. I hope everyone stays in till the finish this time, and that we still have a vote that matters in our very late primary.
Hillary is polling in the mid 30s, despite MSM thet's not sewing it up. That is effectively nearly a 60 not hillary poll, giving 5-10 for not my guy/ok hillary still doesn't pass mid 40s, that's not a win.
Steve, playing stupid games with primary dates doesn't fix anything, it just makes a mess. bomb throwing isn't too constructive and sure has nothing to do with the money/power structure that vettes candidates.
For an entertaining thought game, how does someone in this field get the needed delegates? Nobody is polling high enough to take the convention. Who trades their delegates to whom and for what?
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