What Is It About Florida and Elections?

What is is about Florida and elections?

More precisely, why does Florida, as a whole, feel a manifest destiny to play a special role in federal elections? And why do Floridians feel disenfranchised when not accorded attention and respect greater than that extended to voters in other states?

Now, I've only visited that lovely state once, and found it delightful. And the Floridians I've met have invariably been gracious, generous and intelligent. My rant is not about the good people of the Sunshine State.

My rant is about the widespread, wholly nonpartisan need of the Florida electorate to exert unique influence over federal elections. In short, to choose the President of the United States without regard for fair treatment of the other 49 states.

Florida and the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections
None of us need be reeducated about the historically unique electoral fiasco the state of Florida created in the 2000 election in putting George Bush and Dick Cheney into the White House.

And Florida's performance in the 2004 presidential elections improved little over 2000. Per Wikipedia:

"During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, numerous allegations of irregularities were made concerning the voting process in Florida. These allegations included missing and uncounted votes, machine malfunction, and a lack of correlation between the vote count and exit polling. Additionally, 58,000 absentee postal vote forms were lost in Broward County; Broward County is heavily Democratic... "

Florida's 2008 Democratic Primary Election
Now, Florida Democrats are demanding to be accorded special status in the 2008 primary election calendar.

Here's the deal, in a nutshell:

• In setting the 2008 primary calendar, the DNC voted in 2006 to allow only four states to hold primaries/caucuses before February 5, 2007: Iowa (Jan. 14) and New Hampshire (Jan. 22), which have traditionally opened the primary season; and Nevada (Jan. 19) and South Carolina (Jan. 29), chosen to balance the geography and diversity of the early primary calendar.

• On February 5, 2008, twenty-one states will hold their Democratic primaries/caucuses. (See 2008 Presidential Primary Calendar.)

• Last week in a slap at DNC authority, Florida's governor signed legislation moving the state's 2008 primary to January 29, 2008.

• Reasons given for the offending date change were to give Florida a strong voice in selecting the presidential candidates, and because of the commerce and attention given to states with early primary dates.

• If Florida successfully circumvents the DNC calendar, Michigan is poised to move its primary up to January 15, 2008.

• Late last week, the DNC voted unanimously to strip Florida of its 210 delegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver unless the Florida Democratic party moves its primary back to February 5 or later. Florida Democrats must do so within 30 days.

• Florida Democrats decry the DNC move as "disenfranchisement," and as a "terrible situation for Florida."

• Florida Democrats are also threatening legal action as well as protest at next summer's convention.

Wrote Politico.com about Donna Brazile, Al Gore's 2000 campaign manager and a respected political consultant:

"Donna Brazile, rules committee member from Washington D.C., said, 'In 1981 the Supreme Court ruled that we have a right to set our rules.'

She also noted that it was tempting for states to go first in order to get the media to visit. 'I understand that a lot of states are envious of New Hampshire and Iowa and want to fill their bars up. But we have a process.' "

Weakness of the Primary Election System
For the 2008 election cycle, Florida Democrats are clearly in the wrong in their clumsy attempt to change the rules of the game to benefit... well, just Florida. They apparently don't give a damn about the Democratic party, or the U.S., as a whole.

If Florida Democrats feel disenfranchised, it's only because they chose to disenfranchise themselves from the process.

But this brouhaha over the 2008 primary elections calendar points up a larger problem: the weakness of the traditional primary election/caucus system to select presidential candidates.

The obvious truth is that on February 6, 2007, we will know the Democratic party nominee for the 2008 presidential race. The national convention is irrelevant to the selection of the party's nominee. If Florida has no delegates... so what?

Don't get me wrong: I love political conventions. They're vital to building party unity, to showcasing party leaders, and to getting out the party message. And let's be honest: political conventions are great parties and incomparable networking events.

But 21st-century national political conventions don't select party candidates.

Thus, the states race to be the most important (i.e. the earliest) on the primary calendar. The race among the states then evolves into a free-for-all melee, resulting in selection of the party candidate almost a year before the actual election.

And as we all know, a lot can happen in a year to give Democrats buyers' remorse over that candidate.

The answer? One national primary election date for the 2012 election. Tradition has its place. But traditions change as times change, giving way to the demands of reality and pragmatism.

The time has come for the Democratic party to replace the state-by-state primary election calendar with one national primary election.

Or Florida Democrats may take matters into their own hands in 2012...

Related Reading
Denver Prepares to Nominate the Next U.S. President
2008 Presidential Primary Calendar (Current Political Events)
Politico.com, August 25, 2007: DNC sanctions Florida Dems