Florida primary controversy: No swerving yet

The massive game of "Political Chicken" surrounding Florida's decision to schedule its primary on January 29, 2008 is heating up. Three Democratic candidates -- Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, and Joe Biden -- declared yesterday that they'll obey the Democratic National Committee and avoid campaigning in Florida unless and until the state complies with the DNC's demand to move the primary back to at least February 5.

And the rhetoric between the state and the DNC is getting hotter, too.

"I don't see how anybody who believes he or she should be president of the United States of America could get tricked into signing a pact to ignore tens of millions of diverse Americans by a selfish, four-state alliance of party insiders," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman.

The leading Democratic contenders -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards -- said they were reviewing the request from the four states, whose early contests can make or break a presidential campaign. While the absence of longer-shots Richardson, Biden and Dodd could weaken their standing in Florida, they already lack the poll numbers and fundraising prowess to wage competitive campaigns in the fourth-largest state.

The agreement still allows candidates to raise money in Florida, one of the most generous donors to national campaigns. The candidates who agreed to the boycott said the pact was necessary to try to restore order to a pell-mell primary calendar in which the jockeying among states could thrust Iowa's vote into 2007.

"This process is completely out of control, and only an agreement by the candidates can restore sanity," Richardson said in a statement.

Florida Republicans are also facing sanctions for busting the primary calendar, but the punishment is not as harsh. They could lose half of their delegates to the 2008 convention. Florida Democrats could lose all of their delegates.

A reminder: the January 29 date was a massive set-up by a Republican state legislature and Republican governor to (here's a surprise) fuck up the Democrats and lead to exactly the scenario we're seeing now.

And Florida's not the only state that may face a boycott.

The move upended painstaking efforts by the national Democratic party to ensure that candidates could be tested in smaller states over coffee klatches and barbecues. Iowa and New Hampshire have held the first caucus and primary for decades. The DNC added South Carolina and Nevada to the front lines so that states with racially and ethnically diverse populations would also have an early voice.

"It's a matter of showing respect for the calendar, which took a lot of work for every state," said Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman Carrie Giddens. "It's way of ensuring finality and predictability to the nominating calendar and the participants."

The candidate boycott also would cover Michigan, which voted Thursday to move up its primary to Jan. 15. The Univisión presidential debate slated for Sept. 9 at the University of Miami is not subject to the boycott because it falls within the 30 days the DNC gave the state to reschedule its vote. All eight Democratic candidates are slated to attend the Spanish-language forum, which could mark the swan song of the primary campaign -- five months before Florida votes.

And so the battle rages on. What is already an ugly situation is growing worse by the day, and neither side seems willing to blink.

I still don't see why the January 29 date is so unpalatable, since that's still after three of the four early states vote and it's the same day as South Carolina. But, says the DNC, rules are rules ... and so the Democrats may rule themselves right into a huge campaign quagmire in the next few weeks ...