National Democratic officials are playing a dangerous game with their Florida party affiliate over that state’s determination to leapfrog the presidential nominating calendar.
In the latest round of the intense fight over Florida’s Jan. 29 primary date — a week before the Feb. 5 threshold set by the Democratic National Committee for most states to begin holding their presidential nominating contests — national Democratic leaders have demanded and obtained pledges from their major White House hopefuls to skip campaigning in Florida (although they can still raise money there).
But national Republican Party officials are not attempting to muscle their candidates out of Florida — even though, as in the Democratic Party, the state’s Republicans stand to be punished by losing delegates to the party’s 2008 national convention.
This all means that only Democrats would forgo campaigning during the coming months in an electoral vote-rich state that the party must keep fired up for the general election. Florida Democratic activists are so furious that they predict the controversy will dampen their enthusiasm come November 2008.
While Democratic leaders in kickoff states such as Iowa and New Hampshire forced the move against Florida to protect their “first in the nation” status, it seems politically dumb to slight such a crucial state simply to protect a nominating calendar that has already fallen apart.
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