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How can Florida not count?

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published January 21, 2008

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As primary day in Florida gets closer, you may hear some people - even Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama - say that this primary doesn't count.

They're right.

And wrong.

Technically, Florida Democratic primary votes don't count this year because they won't lead to any delegates - representatives at the major political party conventions who ultimately select the candidates who will run for president of the United States.

But that's not the whole story. Let's take it from the top.

Usually the primaries and caucuses held early in a presidential year carry a lot of influence. Voters in other states tend to jump on board with a candidate who has a strong showing in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina.

This means some very small populations have a very big say in our presidential elections.

The Florida Legislature, thinking it would be wise to get a large state with a diverse group of voters involved early on, voted last spring to move the state primary to Jan. 29, an earlier date in the process.

This didn't sit well with the national committees of either party, which had already approved a calendar for elections aimed at a Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, when 22 states will conduct primaries.

The Democratic National Committee warned the state that it would take away all its delegates from the national convention if the state insisted on moving the primary to January. The Republican party said it would take away half of that party's delegates.

And that's what has happened.

But many people say the Florida vote counts as much as ever because whoever wins this state will have valuable momentum headed into Super Tuesday.

"Heading into Feb. 5, the fact that at the moment there are no delegates is going to mean a lot less to folks outside of Florida than who won and who lost Florida," said Bernie Campbell, a Democratic consultant in Tampa. "But if Super Tuesday is the ballroom, we're now the lobby - the place you enter to get to the ballroom."

Times Political Editor Adam Smith contributed to this report.

 

     HillaryClinton John Edwards Barack Obama Rudy Giuliani Mike Huckabee John McCain Mitt Romney Education

 

  

- Universalpreschool.

- More money for special education.

- Favors incentives for teachers who fill shortages.

- Universalpreschool for4-year-olds.

- Replace No Child Left Behind.

- Pay tuition and books for college students willing to work.

- Encourageuniversal pre-kindergarten.

- Tax credit to pay up to $4,000 of college expenses for students who perform community service.

- Favors vouchers for school choice. - States are responsible for education and should be given more authority to run it, not Washington. - Favors parental choice of schools.

- Vouchers for private schools when approved by local officials.

- Right to choose home schooling.

- Supports requirements for standardized tests.

- Praises No Child Left Behind.

- Supports school choice.

- Supports English immersion.

Global warming - Ten-year energy package, including developing new sources of fuel.

- Pay for it by eliminating tax subsidies for oil companies.

-Tougher fuel efficiency standards.

- Fund to double Energy Department budget forefficiency and renewable energy.

- Eliminate oil company subsidies.

-Tougher fuel efficiency standards.

- As senator, missed vote on 2003 bill.

- Ten-year program to produce "climate friendly" energy supplies

- Paid for with a carbon auction requiring businesses to bid for the right to pollute.

- Tougher fuel efficiency standards.

- Cut pollution 20 percent by 2020.

- Not sure how much global warming is caused by human activity.

- Supports energy independence.

- Consider expanding nuclear power as well as alternative energy.

- Supports 35 mpg fuel efficiency standard by 2020 (it is 25 mpg now).

- Supports cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, but says he doesn't know how much of the problem is caused by human activity.

- Chief co-sponsor (with Obama) of a bill that sought mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. -Plan would require emissions to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020. - Says energy independence is the way to deal with the problem.

- As governor of Massachusetts, backed out of a regional pact to curb CO emissions from power plants because it did not cap energy costs.

Health insurance - Mandatory universal coverage in first term.

- Tax credits for working families.

- Businesses required to offer insurance to employees or pay into a pool.- Expand Medicare to cover those uninsured through work.

- Mandatoryuniversalcoverage by expanding federal health insurance and tax credits.

- Increase taxes on wealthier families to pay the cost.

- Mandatory coverage for children.

- Aim for universal coverage by requiring employers to share costs.

-Raise taxes on wealthier families to pay the cost.

- Income tax deduction of $7,500 per taxpayer to defray insurance costs.

- Tax credit for poorer workers to supplement Medicaid and employer contributions.

- Expanded use of health savings accounts.

- Favors market solutions, state innovation. "We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funding through ever-higher taxes."

- Spend more on prevention and research.

- Tax credits to make health insurance more affordable. In gaining the tax credit, workers could not deduct the portion of their workplace health insurance paid by their employers. - Incentives for states to expand coverage.

-As governor of Massachusetts, signed law aimed at ensuring universal coverage through subsidies, sliding scale premiums and penalties for those who do not get insurance.

Iraq - Opposed troop increase.

- Opposed using congressional power to end war.

- Has not committed to withdrawal timetable.

-Immediate withdrawal of up to 50,000 troops and full withdrawal within 10 months. -Would leave no combat troops in Iraq. -All combat troops out within 16 months. - Supported troop increase and prosecution of the war. - Faults Bush for not sending enough troops to Iraq at the start.

- Supported 2007 troop increase.

- Opposes scheduling a troop withdrawal.

- Supported decision to go to war.

- Was early critic of strategy.

- Supported troop increase and prosecution of the war.

Finally, the presidential campaign trail leads to Florida, with the state primaries set for Jan. 29. For registered Democrats and Republicans, it's time to go to the polls. If you or your parents haven't decided which candidate would get your vote, this information from the Associated Press will tell you how the candidates stand on some majorissues.

FAST FACTS

The numbers game

Primaries are really about divvying up delegates (roughly based on the number of popular votes a candidate gets), and winning the presidential nomination requires winning enough delegates. Normally, Florida has nearly 10 percent of the more than 2,100 delegates required to lock up the Democratic nomination.

Adam Smith, Times Political Editor

[Last modified January 20, 2008, 22:26:36]