Florida Democrats show spine

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published September 25, 2007

After much hand-wringing, Florida Democrats have found their backbone. They are sticking with the Jan. 29 presidential primary, encouraging Democrats to go to the polls, and dropping efforts to satisfy short-sighted national party leaders upset by the early election date. They finally realized that embracing the right to vote is far more important than complying with the party's petty rules.

While Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature overreached by moving the primary election from March to January, the Democratic National Committee's refusal to recognize the results is self-defeating. The only development more insulting is that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest of the candidates agreed to demands from four early-voting states not to campaign here. That could save them time and money between now and the spring, but it will force the party's nominee to play catch-up later.

It is understandable that Iowa and New Hampshire want to preserve their traditional status as the first-voting states. How Nevada and South Carolina wormed their way into similarly exalted status with protected early primary elections is harder to stomach. But the idea that these four states of modest stature can dictate Florida's election schedule, prevent candidates from campaigning here and disenfranchise Democratic voters is absurd. They had some nerve to tell Florida Democrats they would not let candidates campaign here even if Florida managed to comply with the party rules. Let's see how they would like it if Florida fundraisers told candidates not to spend any of their campaign money propping up the economy in Des Moines or Concord.

Here's a reality check. Florida has more registered Democrats than these four self-important states combined. Florida has raised more than three times as much money for Democratic presidential candidates than these four states combined. Florida has more Electoral College votes than these four states combined. Telling Florida Democrats they don't count doesn't add up to victory in November 2008.

The reality is that Florida Democrats had only one viable answer to the ultimatums. The party that has insisted that every vote counts could not tell its own voters they don't matter and hold an expensive caucus later. It could not discourage voters from going to the polls on Jan. 29 when a Republican-backed constitutional amendment forcing deeper tax cuts also was expected to be on the ballot (although a circuit judge threw the amendment off the ballot Monday). And the party's nominee is not going to allow Florida delegates to be locked out of the national convention in next summer.

Some good may come out of this petty turf war yet. The push for a system of rotating regional presidential primaries may gain some momentum, and the DNC succeeded even where Florida Republicans often fail. It united Florida Democrats against a common foe.

[Last modified September 24, 2007, 21:09:47]