GOP punishes Florida again for having an early primary.

[HARTride 2012]

Yes, Florida has been punished again for holding its primary early. A true embarassment for us because Tampa will be hosting the RNC in August. Although many of us saw this coming for quite sometime, my concern now is what will Rick Scott do in the future. Will he hold on to Charlie Crist's mission to give Florida a voice in the primaries? Or will he later retract the primary back to Super Tuesday in the future to prevent another mess in 2016? It is quite possible that a retraction could occur, especially after what Scott did with changing the elections laws in the state this past year.

Although the sanctions sound pretty bad, it could have been A LOT WORSE. And yes, rumors were swirling for a while (if I can recall correctly) about the possibility of the RNC moving the convention out of Florida (and possibly maybe to Arizona, among other states). Thankfully this did not happen, but the ramifications are still pretty serious and embarassing for Florida. And all thanks to rules that the parties refuse to change.

Below is the article snippet from the Tampa Bay Times.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politic...rimary/1210160

Second-class hotel rooms. A poor view on the Republican National Convention floor in Tampa. A loss of VIP passes.

Florida Republicans had to swallow these penalties Wednesday when the Republican National Committee's rules panel approved the punishments because the state bucked the party by holding an early primary on Jan. 31.

Florida already lost half of its 100 delegates — the people who technically cast votes for the party nominee at the convention.

Adding insult to the injury: The convention will be held in Tampa this August, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

[HARTride 2012]

Even though Mitt Romney won the Florida Primary, Newt Gingrich may challenge the results. Specifically being that Florida is a "winner take all" state, by which all of the 50 delegates go to the primary winner. Gingrich argues that this is violating GOP rules because Florida chose to move up its primary.

YET ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT TO FLORIDA BECAUSE THE GOP REFUSES TO CHANGE THEIR RULES.

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news...rimary-results

According to a Fox News report early Thursday, Newt Gingrich's campaign may challenge the results of Tuesday's election.

The alleged argument is that Florida's winner-take-all primary, which gave Mitt Romney all 50 of the state's delegates, is against Republican National Committee rules.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by HARTride 2012

YET ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT TO FLORIDA BECAUSE THE GOP REFUSES TO CHANGE THEIR RULES.

I am not sure that it is the national GOP's fault. The Republican Party in Florida knew the rules before the primary was moved up. Frankly, I am against the winner takes all format anyways.

Steve

[HARTride 2012]

So do I. But my problem is with the rules that don't change....the status quo.

[HARTride 2012]

Yes, Florida knew they would be punished, but the people wanted a bigger voice in the primary process.