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Hey Catherine.
You're from Florida . . . what do you think this means? Nobody has talked about the Democrats in Florida, but it's obviously a very important state in November.
Will Democrats Come To Florida After All?
1/23/08 -- Posted by Catherine Morgan
Could the democrats actually come to Florida after all? In a press conference today, Alex Sink urges the DNC and Democratic State Party Chairs to release Presidential Candidates from their pledge to stay out of Florida. Below is the full press release. TALLAHASEE -- Alex Sink, Florida's elected Chief Financial Officer, today sent a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the Democratic chairpersons of the four states holding the earliest primaries and caucuses urging that the Democratic presidential candidates be released from their commitment to not campaign in Florida."At this point, the effort to preclude Democratic presidential candidates from campaigning in Florida is serving no purpose except to give the Republican Party a head start in the general election," said Sink at a press conference attended by Democratic state legislators who support her effort to lift the embargo on campaigning in Florida. "There is nothing left to be gained by permitting the Republican candidates to barnstorm through our state unchallenged – allowing them to monopolize the airwaves and dominate the news coverage," she said. Democratic Party officials in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina – the four states allowed by DNC rules to hold the earliest primaries and caucuses – demanded that Democratic presidential candidates sign letters pledging that they would not participate in the January 29th Florida primary. The candidates faced the decision to either sign the pledge or anger party officials in those four early states. The DNC has also stripped Florida of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention because Florida did not schedule its primary on or after February 5th as the DNC insisted. "The four chairs of the New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina Democratic parties have the ability to release the candidates from their pledge. And Howard Dean, who, as chairman of the DNC, encouraged the boycott against Florida as well as the stripping of our delegates, can play a leadership role in ending this needless embargo and thereby help us win in Florida in the general election," said Sink. "I am calling on Mr. Dean to provide that leadership so that the national party does not put our presidential nominee at a competitive disadvantage in Florida, a state with 27 electoral votes," Sink added. Democratic legislators participating in the press conference reinforced Sink's remarks. "When the polls close in South Carolina on January 26th, the candidates will have fulfilled their pledge to the early voting states," said Senator Ted Deutch (Boca Raton), one of the Democrats helping to lead the charge to overturn the boycott. "The voters in the State of Florida deserve at least two days to hear from the Democratic candidates," he said. Last week, Deutch sent his own letter to the four state party chairpersons asking them to release the candidates from their pledge. Florida has more electoral votes than all but three other states, and it has more electoral votes than all four of the early voting states combined. And with Florida's primary election still six days away, the combined absentee ballot requests and early votes cast to date in Florida already exceed by a large margin the total number of ballots cast in any of the three states – Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire – that have already held their Democratic caucus or primary. SINK TALKING POINTS
Also See: Does Florida Count? |
Wednesday January 23, 2008, 3:33 PM
I believe that no matter what the DNC decides to do, the democratic presidential candidates must come to FL before the primary. Specifically, for the reason you point out...Florida is WAY to important in November.
Not standing up to the DNC is a show of weakness by these presidential candidates. Americans (and Floridians) want to elect a president that is not afraid to stand up for what they believe. And these candidates can't possibly believe that disenfranchising Florida voters is the right thing to do (and if they do, they deserve to lose).
As a Florida voter - This whole fiasco has been a huge disappointment to me, and in the end, I believe it hurts the Democratic party.