Florida’s condition could not be worse. In fact remedies are fast disappearing. Initially scheduled along with most others for Feb. 5th, Florida along with Michigan, jumped the gun by holding its Democratic Presidential Primary on Jan. 29th. The results in both states were suspect.
The National Democratic [DNC] Party punished Michigan and Florida by stripping them of all their delegates to the party’s national convention in Denver this summer.
What is virtually untold is that Florida Democrats, for a year now, researched every potential alternative process-from caucuses to county conventions to mail-in elections-but no plan could come anywhere close to being viable in Florida.
The Florida Democratic Party made a detailed case to the DNC but was denied.
The Democratic legislators in Tallahassee tried to set the Florida primary on Feb.5th instead of Jan. 29th, but of course, their proposed amendment to house bill 537 was greeted with laughter and derision from the Republicans who control the state government.
Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman, Chair, Florida Democratic Party, stated “President Clinton or President Obama will make history and lead this nation in a new direction. Let’s remember this as the delegate debate continues. We must stick together as Democrats. The stakes are too high and the opportunities too great”.
And, she added, let me remind you that John McCain endorsed President Bush’s decision to veto expansion of the SCHIP program and promises to privatize Social Security.
