Democrats tell Florida to change primary date, or else

WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted Saturday to strip Florida of all its presidential-convention delegates, threatening to leave the state without a vote for the party's 2008 nominee unless it delays the date of its presidential primary election.

The ultimatum marks the most drastic attempt yet by party leaders to impose order among squabbling states that have sought to elbow their balloting closer to the front of the traditional election cycle.

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee voted overwhelmingly to give Florida's state party 30 days to push back its primary contest by at least a week from Jan. 29 or risk losing accreditation for its 210 delegates to the party's nominating convention next summer in Denver.

A refusal to seat delegates from the nation's fourth-largest state could create divisive floor fights and a public spectacle at a convention normally choreographed to show party unity.

The Iowa caucuses traditionally mark the nation's first presidential contest, followed by a statewide primary in New Hampshire. The DNC recently agreed to allow Nevada and South Carolina to join the initial mix to bring more Hispanic and black voters into the early balloting, but it barred any other state from holding a binding presidential primary before the first Tuesday in February, which next year is Feb. 5.

DNC officials said after the vote Saturday that they took harsh action against Florida in part to send a strong message to Michigan and other states that are considering pushing their party contests into January in violation of the party rules.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), which also limits primaries before Feb. 5, has threatened to cut Florida's delegate count by half if the primary date isn't changed. State party officials have until Sept. 4 to argue their case before the RNC.

Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, said she and her colleagues had done everything possible to adhere to the rules.

But, she insisted, Republicans who dominate the Florida Legislature outmaneuvered them by moving the primary date up in a bill that contained crucial election changes, forcing Democrats to vote for the Jan. 29 date. The Republican governor then signed it into law.

Members of the rules committee insisted Florida Democrats had other alternatives.

The Jan. 29 vote could become a nonbinding "beauty contest" or straw vote for Democrats, they noted, to be followed in February by a separate primary, by party caucuses, mail-in vote or other system that would meet the national party's calendar rules.

Thurman said a mail-in balloting program would cost $7 million to $8 million and the money is not available.

"This is a difficult situation for all of us," she said.

Jon Ausman, a DNC member from Florida, said the state party has investigated setting up 150 party caucuses in February. Although the plan would cost less than $1 million, he warned that caucuses inevitably would draw only a fraction of the state's 4 million Democrats and would disenfranchise the 190,000 Floridians who cast absentee ballots, including many members of the military.

"We're asking you for mercy, not judgment," Ausman pleaded.

But few committee members offered much sympathy.

Garry Shay, a panel member from California, noted his home state contains 7.1 million Democrats and that it "serves as the ATM of the Democratic Party." Yet the state party resisted pressure to move its primary date before Feb. 5.

Elected officials in Florida have said they would consider legal action and a protest at the convention if the national party barred the state's delegates.

Material from McClatchy Newspapers and The Associated Press is included in this report.