In May of 2007 the Government of Florida, led by Governor Charlie Crist and then-House Speaker Marco Rubio moved Florida’s primary election from its traditional March date to the last Tuesday in January. This led both parties to sanction Florida by stripping some or all of its delegates, but did little to dissuade candidates from campaigning heavily in the state. The legislation still stands, and 2012’s Florida primary is slated for January 31. The RNC has asked that the primary be pushed back or Florida will receive the same sanctions that it faced last time around.
Florida Senate President Mike Hariodopolos (R-Merritt Island) has no interest in acceding to RNC demands. In his opinion, “Florida is the most important state in the union,” in terms of running for President, and deserves an early primary. On many levels, he is right. Florida, as the nation’s largest swing state, is a crucial battleground for electoral votes come Election Day (as Al Gore knows all too well). Any Republican candidate serious about becoming President needs to prove that they can win over Florida’s electorate, which skews towards the moderate with enough ethnic and cultural diversity to reflect the nation as a whole. Comparatively moderate candidates like front-runner Mitt Romney, who came second in the state in 2008, and relative long shot Jon Huntsman have the most to gain from an early Florida primary. A strong showing could save Huntsman’s campaign or guarantee Romney’s path to the nomination, giving Republicans plenty of time to focus on Obama instead of each other. If the primary is delayed, the momentum from a potential Iowa victory for Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann could make her a front-runner, dimming the GOP’s chances of winning the White House.
One punishment being floated by party leaders in South Carolina and Iowa, states whose own early primaries run the risk of being overshadowed by Florida’s, is relocating the Republican National Convention from Tampa to another site. As serious as they sound, the threats are idle; the RNC has stated definitively that the convention is staying put. State and Local groups, which have already spent enormous amounts of time and money on planning everything from security to electricity needs for the convention, have nothing to fear. Republican House Speaker Dean Cannon responded to the relocation threats, “I look forward to meeting (the Iowa and South Carolina chairpersons) in Tampa next summer.”
Despite the posturing by Florida Republicans, there seems to be a movement to some kind of compromise. Florida Governor Rick Scott and others are gradually coming to terms with a primary held in the first few days of March. This date still breaches the RNC’s March 6th cutoff, but allows New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada to keep their coveted early primaries. Hariodopolos is hoping that such a compromise will appease the RNC leadership, but will not push the primary after March 6 “because Florida is that important.”
photo credit: CBS News