Politics

Primary without a winner?

State and national Democrats aren't backing down in their dispute over an early vote.

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published August 23, 2007

State and national Democrats are staring each other down in a battle over Florida's early primary, and neither side appears willing to blink.

Both could end up losers.

Florida might have all or most of its delegates to the national convention stripped away, while Democratic presidential candidates remain wary and befuddled about how aggressively to campaign in America's biggest battleground state.

"This is setting up the nominee to lose Florida in November," said Terrie Brady, a Democratic National Committee member from Jacksonville. "All we want to do is have a full delegation seated at the national convention empower and excite our base, and win Florida in November. Will the DNC allow these three things to happen? I don't know."

The heated rhetoric comes as state party leaders prepare to meet in Washington Saturday with Democratic National Committee members considering whether to punish Florida for violating national party rules barring all but a select few states from scheduling primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5.

Ultimately, presidential primaries are about divvying up delegates to pick a nominee at the national convention, and if Florida has few delegates to offer, candidates will have to weigh whether it's worth campaigning in the state. State Republicans are fighting similar penalties from the national party, but those are less severe than the Democrats'.

Democratic National Committee member Allan Katz of Tallahassee, who serves on the party rules committee considering the matter, said it looks unlikely Florida will get a pass. With Michigan preparing to set an early primary, too, national party officials fear letting Florida slide could open up an avalanche of early primaries, he said.

While Katz said Florida Democrats might have to consider making the Jan. 29 primary officially meaningless, and instead hold caucuses in February to pick presidential delegates, state Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman rejected that idea Wednesday.

She said the national committee last week submitted a proposal to fund an $866,000 caucus in Florida. For a state with more than 4-million registered Democrats, the plan called for printing 120,000 ballots. That would mean less than 3 percent of Florida Democrats would participate in picking the nominee.

With a property tax initiative and assorted local elections set for Jan. 29, Thurman said it makes little sense to discourage Democratic turnout by making the presidential primary meaningless.

"We are not going to do anything that's going to disenfranchise our Florida Democratic voters. That to us is our biggest commitment and a place we cannot move from," Thurman said.

Barring an unexpected compromise, state Democrats hope that once a nominee emerges, that person will effectively take over the party and ensure Florida Democrats have full representation at the national convention in Denver.

Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or (727)893-8241.

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 23:18:19]