WASHINGTON - Top Democrats voted Saturday to strip Florida of its 210 delegates to next summer’s presidential-nominating convention delegates, threatening to leave the state without a voice in choosing the party’s 2008 nominee, unless it delays the date of its primary election.
The action by the national party’s rules committee gives state Democrats 30 days to come up with an alternate plan for picking their delegates that doesn’t depend on the vote in the primary, which doesn’t seem likely.
A refusal to seat delegates from the nation’s fourth most populous state could set the stage for floor fights and a public spectacle at a convention normally choreographed to show party unity.
After the DNC meeting in Washington , Florida party Chairwoman Karen Thurman said she will talk with the state Democratic Executive Committee, elected officials and other party activists in coming weeks to decide what to do next.
Officials said after Saturday’s vote that harsh action against Florida was partly intended to send a strong message to Michigan and other states that were considering pushing their party contests into January.
Florida is such a big and important state, with a geographic and demographic mix of voters, that candidates will want to score big. Even if they get no delegate votes in the primary, they would gain a slingshot effect into big states voting the next week.
“It will carry weight, it’s not a beauty contest,” she said. “Just think what the headlines will be on Jan. 30 — ‘So-and-so wins big in Florida,’ or ‘Florida leaves two candidates,’ so they all will clearly want to show strong support in Florida.”
Still, Florida Democrats have alternatives, according to members of the DNC rules committee.
The Jan. 29 Democratic vote could be a nonbinding “beauty contest,” or straw poll, to be followed in February by other balloting — perhaps a separate primary, caucuses or a mail-in vote — to meet the national party’s rules, panel members said.
Thurman countered that mail-in balloting could cost $7 million to $8 million — money she said wasn’t available. “This is a difficult situation for all of us,” she said.
As for party caucuses, Florida Democrats have investigated setting up 150 caucuses in February, according to a DNC member from Florida, Jon Ausman.
That plan would cost less than $1 million — but caucuses inevitably would draw only a fraction of the state’s 4 million Democrats, he warned, and would disenfranchise the 190,000 Floridians who cast absentee ballots, including many members of the military.
But few on the rules committee offered much sympathy.
Member Garry S. Shay of California said that although his state contained 7.1 million Democrats and served as “the ATM of the Democratic Party,” the state party resisted pressure to schedule its primary for earlier than Feb. 5.
Traditional Democratic supporters such as firefighters and teachers oppose the referendum, which would increase the homestead exemption, fearing it could reduce revenues and potentially hurt government jobs and services.
“We need turnout to defeat this legislation,” said Terrie Brady, one of three Florida speakers Saturday who tried to persuade the rules committee not to levy penalties against the state.
The trio also blamed a Republican statehouse for forcing them to accept the Jan. 29 primary date.
“We are asking you for mercy, not judgment,” said Jon Ausman, another Florida Democrat who spoke.seen the strong feelings here,” she told reporters. “There is strong emotion.”