...again.
Early voting started yesterday for the Florida Presidential Preference Primary, which will end with statewide polling on January 29th. Despite it being a brutally cold day (59 degrees), I decided to make a mad dash to the heated car in the usual Florida garb - short sleeve shirt, light pants, no jacket. I survived.
For whom did I vote? Cross the break...
Two Huckabee signs were the only campaign materials visible across the street from the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Office. There was a very slow trickle of people coming to vote, about two per minute, which is not surprising for a weekday afternoon two weeks before the main election day.
Ok, here:
But like I said, it doesn't count, because the DNC disallowed all our Convention delegates. Of course, it will count in a secondary fashion, as the results will be reported before February 5th, so people can get a good chuckle at us before they go vote for real in California and New York and the rest.
One of the most endearing characteristics of Florida is that it's the absolutely nuttiest state in the nation. We got your Elian, we got your Terri Schiavo, we got your chads. Without us, how would Keith Olbermann fill out his "Oddball" segments? We got your really really stupid criminals - the carjacker who asked his victim the directions to the highway and sped off not realizing that the victim still had his cell phone, and obviously knew exactly the route the carjacker was taking so he could relay it to the police, of course resulting is speedy capture.
So, in keeping with this proud tradition, the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) dug in its heels and the DNC dug in its heels, and so we're electing the wind today and for the next two weeks. I think I'm one of only a few Democrats in Florida that empathizes with both sides. The Florida Legislature (overwhelmingly Republican - but they had near-unanimous Democratic help) chose the January 29th date knowing that the national parties would react. The DNC could not let that stand, else there would be a free-for-all even worse next time around. But even if the FDP wanted to change to February 5th, they couldn't logistically do it, as the cost would have to be borne by the FDP, not the state. So we're locked in to stalemate.
The FDP's position is that the eventual nominee would just grant the Florida Delegation their floor credentials after the heat of the primary season was over and the seating of the delegates was a moot point. But what if there's no candidate with a lock on the nomination going into the Convention? With three major candidates, and two of which split the primary vote evenly, that could possibly happen. What if Obama was up in the delegate count, but did not have a majority going into Denver, and Florida's 200-plus ghost delegation was heavily tilted toward Clinton?
Ah, the mother of all credentials fights, live coast-to-coast, refereed by Tweety Matthews reliving Lawrence of Arabia again, brought to you by your good friends in the Sunshine State. Oy.