The Florida primary dispute: it's the GOP's turn

Finally, we're seeing the other side of the coin:

Florida and four other states - New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan and South Carolina - could see at least half their delegates blocked from the Republican National Convention next year in St. Paul, Minn., because they moved up their primary dates in violation of party rules, which require that they be no earlier than Feb. 5.

[...]

Wyoming announced Monday that it had moved its primary date to Jan. 5, making it - at least temporarily - the first in the nation.

"The rules that were adopted at the convention in 2004 are clear and will be applied equally to every state," said Amber Wilkerson, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman.

Under committee rules, the state parties must file a report by Sept. 4 detailing when and how convention delegates will be selected. The committee will publish a "Call to the Convention" before the end of the year detailing how many delegates each state will receive.

States that inform the party before the "Call to the Convention" that they plan to hold their primaries before Feb. 5 or after July 28 would lose half their GOP delegates; states that make the indication later would lose 90 percent of their delegates.

The GOP-dominated Florida Legislature pushed through the January 29 primary date and presumably was gleeful when the Democratic Party threatened to punish Florida for moving ahead of the February 5 threshold. Well, I guess the foot's on the other hand now, isn't it, Kramer?

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, also the Republican Party's general chairman, said last week that he supports efforts by Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, to work with the national party. But he is helpless to give Florida an exemption.

"I have been persuaded by the lawyers at the RNC that the rules are very inflexible," Martinez said. "I've made that very clear to the governor and to (Florida House) Speaker (Marco) Rubio and to Jim Greer, and they know that I personally can't do anything."

Greer said he is confident Florida will retain its full complement of delegates.

"I understand the RNC continuing to publicize their rules, but I am confident that our position that we are not in technical violation of the rule because we do not select our delegates on Jan. 29 will prevail," Greer said.

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Florida Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster dismissed the RNC's threats and said he does not expect the legislature to change the primary date when it meets next month for a special session.

"I think it's all talk. We're an important state," said Webster, R-Winter Garden. "I think we're going to be a player regardless."

The legislature decided to push the primary forward to increase the state's influence, Webster said. "I don't think we're changing."

Florida's 27 electoral votes, the most of any swing state, make it impossible for candidates to disregard, Webster said. "It's too big. At some point in time, they're going to need Florida. I don't see how they're going to ignore us now and try to come back later and redo it."

It's a massive game of Political Chicken, and now it's affecting both parties. Someone's going to have to swerve, or there's going to be some serious carnage ...