Politics

Early primary heat? Bask in it

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published August 28, 2007

Karen L. Thurman, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, speaks to reporters after testifying before the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee in Washington. Democrats decided to strip Florida of all its presidential convention delegates unless the state holds its primary later in the 2008 election calendar.
	[AP photo]

"It's absolutely asinine!" Williston resident Richard Williams, an 87-year-old veteran of Normandy, bellowed into my phone Monday. "This is the first decent slate of candidates the Democrats have had, and now they do this? What the hell are they doing?"

Countless other folks are just as flummoxed over the Democratic National Committee's ordering Democrats in America's biggest battleground state on Saturday to make their Jan. 29 presidential primary officially meaningless.

They're right to be. When Democrats could be laying the groundwork to win back the White House, they instead look bumbling and bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

"What happened on Saturday is the DNC told Florida to drop dead," said Jacksonville lawyer Chris Hand, who managed Democrat Alex Sink's successful campaign for chief financial officer last year. "We should respond in kind."

That may be the best strategy for Florida Democrats, and one they should have adopted long ago: Stop whining about "disenfranchised voters," stop threatening bogus lawsuits, and instead declare victory as a big state in the thick of the nominating contest.

Sure, the DNC promises to strip all of Florida's 210 delegates to the presidential election. So what? These days, conventions rarely are more than giant commercials anyway. Once a Democratic nominee emerges, he or she will take over the party and make sure Florida has a full presence at the national convention in Denver.

Besides, that Jan. 29 ballot in Florida includes a crucial property tax initiative loathed by most Democratic leaders, who want serious voter turnout to defeat it. Crying about a meaningless presidential primary sure won't help that cause.

"Why worry about how to select delegates at this point? This is how Democrats will lose, when the party activists worry only about how to get to the convention instead of how to get voters out to vote," Miami-Dade Democratic state committeewoman Cindy Lerner said in an e-mail Monday.

State Democrats should crow about Florida getting an early voice in the presidential nomination. To candidates tempted to skip the Sunshine State because no delegates are at stake, Florida Democrats should loudly question whether any candidate can pretend to be viable in the general election without fighting hard to win over Florida Democrats on Jan. 29.

Florida Republicans, who know a thing or two about winning, are essentially in the same boat. They broke their national party's rules, too. But you don't hear them threatening lawsuits and moaning about lost delegates.

"I think it's silly," Gov. Charlie Crist said of the Democrats' dispute. "What matters is people. The people's vote, the people's will is what these candidates care about."

Crist said he won't consider asking the Legislature to re-schedule Florida's primary to comply with the national party rules: "I think Florida being in the forefront is exactly what we need to do."

Yes, there are legitimate reasons for the DNC to come down hard on Florida for jumping out of turn. Rules are rules, and others might be tempted to follow suit.

This isn't the first time a big, important state has chafed at taking a back seat to Iowa and New Hampshire in the early nominating process.

Earlier this year, California Democrats starting making similar noises about moving that state's Feb. 5 primary to Jan. 8. Gary Shay, a DNC member from Los Angeles, fought hard to keep his party from ignoring the national party schedule.

"I even had one legislator tell me I should move to New Hampshire," he recounted. "But rules are rules, and California abided by them. And I believe that Florida should as well."

In the Florida fiasco, almost nobody looks good so far.

Sen. Bill Nelson, Florida's top Democrat, didn't help the state's case. He held a news conference the day before the DNC rules committee meeting to say the national party was going to disenfranchise votes and might face lawsuits from Florida. He prompted a front-page Washington Post article that clearly antagonized some of the committee members, who, except for one Floridian, were unanimous in punishing Florida Democrats.

"When you saw the vote here, the above-the-fold article in the Washington Post and some of the comments coming out of Florida clearly contributed to that. They were over the top," said Hartina Flournoy, a DNC member from Washington.

Nelson was vague about his legal grounds for a court challenge. States can schedule and run elections, but the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981 upheld national parties' authority to determine how their presidential nominees are chosen.

Michigan nearly blew up the primary schedule heading into the 2004 election cycle, but then-DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe managed to retain control of the calendar after tough negotiations with Michigan Sen. Carl Levin. DNC chairman Howard Dean has failed to exert such discipline.

But all along, many Florida Democrats were too arrogant about the state's political heft to realize the threats by the DNC were real. Although Florida's primary date was moved by a GOP-controlled Legislature, the Democrats' arguments that they were trying to stop it haven't been credible.

DNC members, in fact, produced a transcript for Saturday's meeting, from Senate Democratic leader Steve Geller's less-than-convincing request to schedule the Florida primary on Feb. 5, in compliance with DNC rules.

The transcript says: "We really, really want this. Don't we, senator? (sarcasm and audible laughter in chamber)."

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

[Last modified August 27, 2007, 23:13:43]