DNC Votes to Strip Fla. Of Delegates

By Lesley Clark, The Miami Herald

Aug. 26–WASHINGTON — Florida’s Democratic primary was thrown into disarray on Saturday when the Democratic National Committee voted to strip the state of its national convention delegates because the date of the primary — Jan. 29 — violates party rules.

The decision is likely to affect how much time and money Democratic presidential candidates spend in the state and may affect the outcome of a property-tax referendum scheduled to be voted on the same day.

On Saturday, Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning in South Florida, told The Miami Herald that stripping the state of its delegates could become a "consideration" in how long he will campaign in Florida. He also evinced sympathy for the DNC’s attempts to stick to its rules.

"We’re going to have to create some order," he said. "We’re selecting the leader of the free world, and it shouldn’t be a game of hopscotch between the states."

Mo Elleithee, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner in most Florida polls, noted that "the process is still ongoing, and we hope that the DNC and the state party can figure out a resolution that works for everyone."

The comments came soon after the DNC on Saturday stripped Florida Democrats of their convention delegates, rendering the state’s Democratic presidential primary officially worthless and delivering a stern message to states looking to bump up their presidential primaries.

The move — which would become effective in 30 days unless Florida Democrats can reach a compromise with the national party — could turn the Democratic primary in the fourth-largest state into an essentially meaningless "beauty contest."

For now, it has put the Democratic Party in the awkward position of waging a family feud with one of the biggest, fastest-growing prizes in the presidential race. Florida is a major source of campaign contributions and decided the 2000 presidential race.

Florida Republicans face a similar fight with their national party leaders. They stand to lose up to half of their delegates, but GOP chief Jim Greer has pledged to fight "tooth and nail" to retain them. The party has until Sept. 4 to submit its plans to the Republican National Committee.

DNC IGNORES EXCUSES

State Democrats argued that making the primary worthless could depress turnout and hurt the party’s efforts to defeat a property-tax referendum that the party and its union base oppose.

Those arguments failed to move members of the DNC rules committee, who voted nearly unanimously for the sanctions, saying that they need to impose order on what is promising to be an unruly primary season. Only Florida member Allan Katz voiced opposition.

"Are we going to uphold the rules or just have open season on the entire process?" DNC rules committee co-chairwoman Alexis Herman said after the vote. "Florida’s a very important state to the democratic process, but we have 49 other states that we also have to take into consideration."

Florida Democrats pleaded with the committee for "mercy," saying they were steamrolled by a Republican majority in the Legislature that was intent on moving the presidential primary to Jan. 29 — even if it meant trampling both parties’ calendars.

"Florida Democrats did what they could, but, in the end, we failed," said Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Thurman.

The GOP-dominated Legislature voted earlier this year to move the state’s primary elections from March to Jan. 29. Lawmakers and GOP leaders argued that a state as big and diverse as Florida should be in the mix with traditionally early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, whose combined population could fit into Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The feud signals major problems nationwide with the crowded presidential calendar as other states jockey for position and threaten to move the voting into early January — or even 2007.

The committee calendar allows only Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina to hold primaries before Feb. 5, when nearly two dozen other states hold elections. But Michigan also is looking to defy the party, with its Senate voting this week to move its primary up to Jan. 15.

With that defiance in mind, the committee had little sympathy for Florida. Several members suggested that state Democrats could have more vociferously opposed the Republican-led charge to move up the primary date.

Democrats argued they were outnumbered 2-to-1 in the Legislature and that the election bill provided for a paper trail on voting machines. But seconds after Thurman and Florida party members Jon Ausman and Terri Brady finished wrapped up their plea, committee member Ralph Dawson of New York moved to strip the state of its delegates.

Committee members said they didn’t have a choice: They warned of opening "the doors to chaos" if they didn’t hold the line against rogue states looking to move up their primaries. "I understand how states crave to be first, how they’re envious of Iowa and New Hampshire," said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who voted to strip the state of its delegates. "I understand you’d like to get the candidates down to raise your issues, fill the barns. But the truth is, we have a process."

ALTERNATIVES

The national party has suggested that Florida could avoid the penalties by staging its own election, called a caucus, after Feb. 5. The national party said it would spend about $800,000 toward the vote. But Florida officials said they feared that millions of Florida Democrats wouldn’t get a chance to vote, including those who vote by absentee.

Thurman said she expects Florida to remain a player in presidential politics, given the general election and the state’s coveted 27 electoral college votes. And she said she’s holding out hope that a compromise can be reached before the party is officially penalized. But she acknowledged that many in the party oppose alternatives. "I think it’s going to be a difficult discussion," she said.

The committee did not impose sanctions on the candidates — because there would be no delegates to compete for.

Thurman and even DNC committee members have suggested that the party’s penalties may be meaningless for the delegates to the convention because the winning presidential nominee will likely decide to seat Florida’s delegates, rather than snub a state likely to play a critical role in the election.

How the decision will affect the selection of the party’s presidential candidate was uncertain. Florida ordinarily would have 210 delegates to the national convention. But the last Democratic presidential nominating contest still undecided going into the national convention was in 1980, when then-President Jimmy Carter faced a challenge from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Miami Herald staff writer Beth Reinhard contributed to this report from Miami.

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