Florida Democrats rebuff DNC, stand by early primary

The state Democratic chair is expected to announce that threat of penalty won't stop the Jan. 29 presidential primary.

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Staff Writer
September 23, 2007

No candidates? No delegates? Florida just can't seem to stay out of the national political spotlight.

Now Florida Democratic leaders are poised to ignore threatened penalties from the national Democratic Party and move ahead with the state's Jan. 29 presidential primary.

Several top Democrats said Saturday that state Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman is likely to announce today that, despite a promised boycott of Florida's primary by the leading Democratic presidential candidates and the loss of all Florida delegates to the national nominating convention, Florida Democrats will still hold their primary on Jan. 29.

National party rules allow only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to schedule nominating elections before Feb. 5, and for months Florida Democrats have been consumed with the controversy and potential fallout.

"Karen is doing what's best for Floridians and for Florida Democrats," said Miami-Dade Democratic chairman Joe Garcia, brushing off the suggestion that Florida's Jan. 29 Democratic primary will be officially meaningless without delegates. "About 2.5-million Democrats are going to vote on Jan. 29, and I don't know of anybody running for president of the United States that would not like to see their name at the top of the list when the votes are counted Jan. 29."

State party officials did not return calls Saturday night to confirm the decision, but for weeks they have been busy counting votes among the state Democratic executive committee -- dominated by activists in Democrat-rich South Florida -- to move ahead with the Jan. 29 primary.

"That's the direction we're headed," said Diane Glasser of Broward County, a member of the state executive committee.

"We cannot confirm or deny it," said state party spokesman Mark Bubriski.

Several Florida members of the Democratic National Committee have been maneuvering to comply with its rules and hold a later presidential delegate election, such as caucuses across the state or a state convention. But those alternatives could have cost millions of dollars and potentially diminished Democratic turnout on Jan. 29, when many cities hold elections and a statewide tax-cutting initiative is on the ballot.

At a time when Republican presidential hopefuls are aggressively campaigning for Florida votes, the Democrats are unlikely to match the effort in America's biggest battleground state any time soon. For instance, an e-mail Saturday to supporters of the Barack Obama campaign stressed his intention to campaign hard in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Carolina and all the states holding elections on Feb. 5 -- with no mention of Florida.

Helping persuade some of the key Florida Democratic voters to stick with Jan. 29 was a letter to Thurman detailed in the St. Petersburg Times on Saturday. The four early states told Thurman that even if Florida Democrats complied with the DNC rules, they would insist on all the Democratic candidates to boycott Florida until after Jan. 29.