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ADAM C. SMITHIf Florida party leaders insist on a straw poll, the presidential hopefuls vow to boycott the convention.
It's a showdown between national and state Democrats.
All nine of the party's candidates for president promised Wednesday to boycott the Florida Democratic Party's convention in December if state leaders insist on holding a straw poll.
"Should a decision be made to hold a straw poll it would make it impossible for us to attend the state party convention and any potential straw poll therefore would not be competitive," said a letter signed by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and all of the presidential candidates.
The letter to Florida Democratic Chairman Scott Maddox had been under quiet debate for several days and was released Wednesday evening after a conference call involving representatives of the DNC and the nine campaigns.
The reaction from prominent Florida Democratic activists?
Just try snubbing the biggest battleground state in America.
"So what," Diane Glasser, a national and state party committeewoman from Broward County, said of the threatened boycott.
"I say we do what we have to do.
This will separate the men from the boys," she said, scoffing at the notion that all candidates would remain united in skipping Florida. "The first one that comes, they all come."
A mini battle has been raging between Tallahassee and Washington since last week, when it became clear that many Democratic activists are determined to hold a nonbinding straw poll in violation of Democratic National Committee rules. The DNC and many of the campaigns view such straw polls as a drain on resources badly needed to get them through the primary voting season, which starts with the Iowa caucuses in January.
But Florida, America's biggest battleground state and home of the 2000 recount, is not just any state.
"If there is one state Dem Party that might be capable of big-footing the DNC and the (White House) Dem field into participating in a straw poll, it's FL," Hotline, a widely read political Web site, declared this week.
Democratic activists on the state party's central committee are scheduled to vote Nov. 16 on whether to hold a straw poll. Even in the face of threatened boycotts, support for a straw poll appears to be overwhelming.
Maddox, while trying to be diplomatic Wednesday night in talking about his hopes for an amicable resolution, acknowledged that the straw vote is probably unstoppable.
"Do I think that all the candidates are going to stay away if we have a straw poll?" he asked. "No, I do not. I don't think any of the top-tier candidates can afford to ignore Florida and alienate the very people they will need."
Some 3,000 party activists are expected at the Dec. 5-7 party convention in Orlando. While nonbinding and hardly representative of the overall Florida electorate, a straw poll would put the national spotlight on Florida Democrats and potentially offer candidates a shot of momentum before the official voting begins Jan. 19 in Iowa.
Jon Ausman, a DNC member from Tallahassee, said that by the time Florida holds its March 9 primary, the party nomination likely will be decided. He said a straw poll at least gives Florida Democrats some say in the process. He dismisses the boycott threat, saying the campaigns of both former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards have assured him they will be at the convention no matter what.
"They can write all the letters they want," he said, "but if Terry McAuliffe wants to get booed four times at every DNC meeting telecast on C-SPAN, that's fine with me."
For now, the campaigns are standing by the letter.
"Florida obviously holds a special place in the heart of Sen. (Joe) Lieberman," said Lieberman spokesman Jano Cabrera. "This is about specifically an opposition to straw polls that is shared by the party and all nine Democratic candidates."
- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com