Party sticking with its primary date

In defiance of the national Democratic Party, Florida Democrats are expected to announce today that they will keep the scheduled January primary and accept any penalties.

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, Miami Herald

Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Florida Democratic Party will defy threats from national party officials and continue with a Jan. 29 presidential primary even if it means its delegates won't count at next year's nominating convention, top party officials said Saturday.

''We are not going to disenfranchise our people and take away the incentive to go to the polls,'' said Rep. Luis Garcia, a Miami Democrat and vice chairman of the party. ``That's very dangerous for the state.''

State Democratic Chairman Karen Thurman will hold a press conference at 3 p.m. today in Pembroke Pines to announce the party decision, Garcia said.

The state party has been polling its more than 200 executive committee members from around the state over the past two days and concluded that more than 75 percent support sticking with the primary as planned, another party official told The Miami Herald.

The goal, the source said, was to send a message to other states that Florida can't be ignored.

State officials have been scrambling for weeks to find a way to salvage the delegate selection process since the Democratic National Committee's rules committee told the state it would lose its 210 delegates if it conducted its primary prior to Feb. 5.

The GOP-dominated Legislature voted earlier this year to move the state's primary elections from March to Jan. 29 and Gov. Charlie Crist signed the bill into law.

Lawmakers and GOP leaders argued that a state as big and diverse as Florida should be in the mix with traditionally early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, whose combined population could fit into Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

In June, the state Democratic Party voted to go along with the date, saying it was the best chance to get as many people involved in the process as possible. It reaffirmed the vote in August.

But after the DNC's threat, most Democratic presidential candidates signed a pledge to boycott Florida.

The DNC said, however, it would continue to allow candidates to hold fundraisers.

The DNC gave the state party until Sept. 29 to find an alternative plan or lose its delegates.

The national party even offered the state $800,000 to pay for whatever approach it choose.

PITCHING IDEAS

Thurman and others pitched ideas ranging from convening a state convention, a caucus or a vote-by-mail primary, but party leadership rejected such ideas.

But, Garcia said, he and others have urged executive committee members to ``stick to their guns.''

''Florida is a very important state and we are the ones in the foxholes and trenches,'' he said. ``We took back eight seats in the [state] House and one seat in Congress and they are going to make us look like fools.''

Garcia said he is among those who were concerned that turning Florida's primary into a beauty contest, with a convention or caucus to follow, could have kept Democrats away from the polls and affect the outcome of the constitution amendment on property taxes.

INFLUENTIAL VOTE

Even though Florida won't have delegates at the nominating convention, party leaders believe that the Jan. 29 date will continue to let Florida's vote influence the rest of the nation.

Twenty-five other states go to the polls in February.