FLORIDA DEMOCRATS READY TO FIGHT FOR IT'S CONVENTION DELEGATION

As everyone knows by now, the decision by Florida's legislature to change the date of our presidential preference primary to January 29 is in violation of rules agreed upon by both major political parties to protect the status of Iowa as the nation's first caucus state, New Hampshire's first primary, and South Carolina as the first primary in the South. Both parties have threatened to cut the size of our state's delegation in half, and the Democrats have additionally promised that any candidate who campaigns or raises money in Florida will not be entitled to any of it's delegates, regardless of how he/she fares in the January vote.

On the Democratic side, there are two items related to this of note:

Lesley Clark reported in the Miami Herald Wednesday that Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Thurman is prepared to argue before the Democratic National Committee's rules committee when it meets in Washington on Saturday that it is sticking with the January 29 date for a variety of factors; among them, a number of municipalities have decided to move their elections to that date as well...''So when we go up to Washington to fight for all our delegates, it will be the Democratic National Committee who chooses to penalize us.'' Thurman is encouraging all Florida Democrats to send a message to the DNC opposing any possible cut in the delegate strength, and has a page set up on the state party's Web site to do so.

Also, the Florida Democratic congressional delegation has sent a message to DNC Chairman Dr. Howard Dean, threatening that if the state's delegation to the national convention is cut, it would call for a voting rights investigation. The St. Petersburg Times political blog The Buzz printed the letter's content this afternoon. Click here to check it out.