Primary Follies Continue

We're getting closer and closer to having a national primary on February 5th. Arizona has announced plans to move their primary up to that day making them the 20th state to do so. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is considering sanctions against their Florida counterparts:

The ugly elbowing over which states will go first in the 2008 presidential primary process is due to explode into open warfare Saturday as the Democratic National Committee decides what to do about “rogue” states that are threatening to violate party rules.

The DNC’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in Washington to decide primarily what sanctions to take against Florida, where Democrats say they will conduct a primary on Jan. 29 in violation of party rules.

The Politico has learned, however, that a secret 9 a.m. “off the record” breakfast will precede the open meeting and the 30 sometimes contentious members of the rules commitee will try to achieve some kind of consensus.

“We will decide then whether to blow off Florida,” a rules committee member told me.

That sort of reminds me of this scene from a famous Monty Python movie:

"No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."--French soldier (John Cleese), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," 1975

I doubt they'll do anything more serious than send them a strongly worded letter. The Democrats need to stay on the good side of Florida voters if they want to win the presidency in '08. Those electoral votes will be very important, just as they were in 2000 and 2004.