Democratic snub won't be forgotten

If Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic candidates for president so easily cave to party hacks and states as small as Iowa and New Hampshire, one wonders how they would stand up under real pressure in the White House. Their sudden decisions over the weekend to stop campaigning in Florida to keep the national party and the earliest voting states happy are shortsighted and an insult to this state's voters that will not be easily forgotten. This is a state where too many voters already question whether their vote counts after enduring such spectacles as the recount for president in 2000 and last year's recount in the Sarasota-area congressional district formerly represented by Katherine Harris. In both cases, Democrats raised their voices the loudest over disenfranchised voters. Now they are telling members of their own party in Florida they aren't interested in seeking their support and their votes won't count in the Jan. 29 primary. So much for sticking to principle.

Both political parties are so desperate to seem relevant that they are determined to protect a presidential primary system that was broken long before Florida made its move. Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature should have been content to move the primary from March to Feb. 5, which would have been fine with the political parties. Instead they grabbed Jan. 29. Punishing party insiders by assigning them to a distant hotel at the national conventions would be one reasonable response. Punishing Florida voters for the state's decision goes too far.

Clinton, Obama, John Edwards and the other Democratic candidates are only hurting themselves in the long run by refusing to campaign in Florida. Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani already have large staffs here and are building solid ground games. They will continue to be frequent visitors, and the Democratic nominee will have to both re-energize the base now being snubbed and play catch-up in organizing a general election campaign.

The ultimate insult, of course, is that Democrats still plan to use Florida as an ATM. They will eagerly come here to raise money even as they pledge not to campaign for votes. Now that takes gall.

There is an appropriate response. Floridians ought to limit their contributions to presidential campaigns in direct proportion to the number of delegates the political parties will penalize the state for its early primary date. That means Republicans should contribute only half as much as they normally would - and Democrats shouldn't contribute one red cent.

[Last modified September 5, 2007, 00:31:44]