Open Letter to Florida Dems - Stop Your Whining! Stop attacking and blaming Howard Dean for the mess you are in. Stop pretending that Florida Democrats were helpless -we have the video and the news articles that show otherwise. The vote for the change was 115-1. Thats right, YOU voted for it too. You did precious little to stop it.

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Open Letter to Florida Democratic Leaders - Stop Your Whining! You wanted to be "relevant." Stop attacking and blaming Howard Dean for the mess you are in.

Stop pretending that Florida Democrats were helpless -we have the video and the news articles that show otherwise.

The vote for the change was 115-1. Thats right, Democratic lawmakers were complicit in this mess, and made no real effort to stop it.
Clinton advisor Howard Ickes voted for the rules you broke and penalties that you are facing now.

Here you will see two news articles, one video of Sen. Steve Geller (D), and the famous Mad Floridian's journals, all of which prove the complicity and posturing of Florida Dems in moving their primary up.

Gelber: Don't blame FL Dems for delegate lossFebruary 21, 2008 UPDATE: Gelber may have audio, but Republicans have video - - of Sen. Steve Geller offering an "amendment" to move the primary back. It was fun and games back then. No longer. See it here.
The House Democratic leader, continuing his push for a new, vote-by-mail primary, on his new blog repeats the Democratic argument (scoffed at by the DNC) that they were helpless to stop Republicans from moving the primary to Jan. 29. He even includes audio of David Rivera laughing at the Democrats' amendment to shift the date to Feb. 5.

What we wonder, though, is what would have happened if Florida Democrats opposed the early primary from the start, rather than waiting until the last minute.
Instead of cheerleading the idea of an early primary violating the national party rules and brushing off Howard Dean, who knows if the new governor stressing bi-partisanship would have been keen on rolling Democrats....

Florida's presidential primary could be as early as January  Associated Press Thursday, March 22, 2007
...House Republicans and Democrats passed the earlier primary bill (HB 537) by a 115-1 vote
a challenge to the national parties that are wielding threats in an attempt to prevent a nationwide race for earlier and earlier primaries.
... By its own state law, New Hampshire must have the nation's earliest primary. Its secretary of state has said he will choose a date in the fall to ensure the Granite State's primacy.

National Democrats have recommended a Jan. 22 vote in New Hampshire. If that date is chosen, Florida's vote would occur Jan. 29, with early voting starting two weeks earlier.
California, with the largest state population, signed a Feb. 5 primary into law last week.

Florida lawmakers believe the state's demographic and political diversity merit a greater say in the selection of nominees. They're tired of candidates treating the fourth-largest state as a fundraising ATM, only to take the money to campaign in small states like Iowa and New Hampshire. And they say they are willing to call the bluffs of the national parties, which have threatened to take away
delegates the state parties send to the nominating conventions