|
Politico...
RNC
punts on leapfrogging states
By James Hohmann
8/4/11
TAMPA,
Fla.— The Republican National
Committee decided Thursday to wait until January to determine
punishment for
Florida and Arizona if they go ahead with plans to schedule early
primaries.
There
is a quiet acquiescence that
Florida will go ahead with the fifth primary. At the summer meeting
here, the
rules committee tabled a resolution that could mean terrible hotel
rooms, awful
seats and fewer guest passes for states that ignore the RNC rules on
primary
dates — including the Florida delegates, who are hosting next year’s
national
convention here.
Missouri
and West Virginia, among
others, have also discussed moving up their primaries.
The
decision helps ensure continuing
uncertainty over the primary calendar and the risks for states that
want to be
in the ranks of the early states. The four officially sanctioned early
states –
Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada – are committed to
moving their
primaries earlier if necessary to preserve their spots at the beginning
of the
calendar.
Florida
is adamant about going fifth,
and Arizona is considering scheduling its primary for the same day or
immediately after.
“All
I know is we’re going to be
early,” said Florida Republican state chairman David Bitner. “With
Arizona
jumping around, it really rearranges the table.”
States
have until Oct. 1 to inform the
RNC of the day of their nominating convention. If an official state
commission
established by Florida law decides to go earlier than Arizona, the
domino
effect could push the Iowa caucuses back into December 2011.
“The
date may change, but the order
won’t,” said Iowa state chair Matt Strawn.
If
they schedule their primaries
before February, Florida and Arizona are technically set to
automatically lose
half their delegates, as happened in the 2008 election for Florida and
Michigan. That’s a tradeoff the two growing states are willing to make
for
increased influence in the process. But other Republicans want to
retaliate by
making the delegates’ experience at the convention less enjoyable.
With
the tension about the calendar
building for months, the fight is a flashpoint at the summer meeting
between
states looking to matter more in the process, early states eager to
keep their
place at the beginning without moving ever-earlier as in 2008 and other
states’
representatives trying to ensure that everyone plays by the same rules.
The
fight may end up being purely
academic, with whatever discretionary punishment levied by the rules
committee
relating to floor seating likely to be waived by the party’s eventual
nominee.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) prevented Florida from being punished at the
2008
Republican National Convention.
But
it’s already prompted Georgia GOP
chair Sue Everhart to talk about moving her state’s primary up, so that
they
can host the debates and candidate visits that Florida’s primed to get.
“If
everyone comes out of the chute
early, we will too,” she said, noting that Georgia hasn’t settled on a
date for
its primary yet.
Michigan
committeeman Saul Anuzis
opposed Thursday’s resolution, arguing that the preexisting rules
should be
allowed to work.
“My
gut feeling is we’re going to have
something very similar to 2008,” he said. “That’s assuming that Florida
or
Arizona don’t go before January 31.”
Read
it at Politico
|
