Florida Democrats today flouted the national party's threat of retaliation if the state goes ahead with plans to move the presidential primary up to Jan. 29.
The state's 10 Democratic members of Congress, led by Sen. Bill Nelson, issued a joint statement to "strongly encourage all Democrats to vote for their preferred nominee in that primary, regardless of whatever penalties the DNC might enact."
"We cannot go along with anything but the state-run primary set for next January," they said. "The vote is going to matter -- period," the lawmakers said.
The lawmakers said they would sue the DNC to stop it from banning Florida delegates, if it comes to that.
The statement comes three days after the Democratic National Committee led by Howard Dean voted to expel Florida's delegates to the national convention if the state party does not hold its presidential caucus on Feb. 5 or later, instead of a binding primary set for Jan. 29.
So will Dean and the DNC cave in or will they actually penalize the Florida Democrats when the primary date hits?
I like Hot Air's exit question to this issue:
Exit question: What if Florida tries to move up again?
According to the Sun Sentinel all front running candidates from both parties will campaign aggressively.
WASHINGTON - It's already raining candidates in Florida, and a flap between the state and national political parties over the Jan. 29 presidential primary is not about to stop the flow of campaign appearances.
Even if some or all of Florida's nominating convention delegates are stripped away, the front-running candidates for both major parties all plan to campaign aggressively in the largest electoral swing state.
"A candidate who does well here could pick up the momentum that helps them win other states regardless of the delegate count," said Stephen Craig, professor of political science at the University of Florida.
Dean and the DNC be damned.
The DNC is going to have to cave whether they are right or wrong isn't even the issue anymore, it is what is best for the party itself.
Although they have been known to shoot themselves in the foot before, so I guess we will see.
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