Dems' Florida Fight

By Ana Marie Cox

Among recent political events, the one likely to have the most lasting impact on the American electorate has little to do with Fred Thompson or Larry Craig. It is the decision of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to strip all convention delegates from renegade states that schedule their presidential primaries before Feb. 5, 2008. The party's swift reaction has Democratic insiders predicting that, come 2012, the presidential-primary system that has been in place for the past four decades (since 1968 in current form) could be scrapped. What might replace it, no one can say for sure. DNC rules-committee member Donna Brazile doesn't care: "I would go back to cigars in a back room. That would be preferable to what we have today."

So far, only Florida, which announced plans to schedule its primary on Jan. 29, has been informed that its delegates will be cut, barring a compromise. But others, including Michigan, could suffer the same fate. The Republican National Committee has said it will also sanction early-acting states--there are as many as seven--but it has been less strict in reining them in. What's more, on the Democratic side, the DNC granted exceptions to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada (pleasing African-American constituencies in South Carolina and Hispanics in Nevada), and these "first four" have coaxed pledges from all the major candidates to refrain from campaigning in any of the rogue primaries. In swing states like Michigan and Florida, the absence of major Democratic political activity for four months could severely damage the party nominee's general-election chances. In Florida, primary participants may be especially sensitive to being told their votes won't count. "Disenfranchisement is, um, a hot-button issue here," says a Florida Democratic Party official, alluding to lingering fury over the electoral fiasco of 2000.