Florida Leapfrogs Other State Primaries

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, right, hugs Congressman Robert Wexler, D.-Fla., left, before signing a bill which moves Florida's presidential primary ahead of most other states at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office in West Palm Beach, Fla. Monday, May 21, 2007. The bill also requires a verifiable paper trial for all voting machines throughout Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (Lynne Sladky - AP)

The Republican National Committee has warned it will strip 50 percent of Florida's delegates if the state's primary is moved.

"The rules are inflexible and it doesn't matter who is running the RNC, those rules will be enforced because they are part of the rules that were crafted at the last convention and they can't be changed," RNC chairman and Florida Sen. Mel Martinez said Friday.

Party leaders say the rules are in place, in part, to keep states from constantly leapfrogging over each other to gain a greater say in selecting a president.

South Carolina Republicans, for instance, are now considering moving up their primary ahead of its tentatively scheduled Feb. 2 date in order to keep it the first GOP primary in the South.

"It's always been said the Republican primary in South Carolina is the primary that makes presidents," said Neal Thigpen, a political scientist with Francis Marion University in South Carolina.

Thigpen said Florida's earlier primary now "blunts" the lure of South Carolina's elections, taking away what has traditionally been a bright spotlight there.

However, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said Monday an early Florida primary would not diminish her state's role in the process because candidates have to bring a personal touch there.

"South Carolina's a state in which candidates can have a real impact because it's small. In Florida, candidates have to spend millions of dollars on TV to win," Fowler said. "Here, they can come and get to know the voters."

Candidates don't seem to be threatened by the potential penalties from the national parties.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was already campaigning in the Miami area on Monday. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will also continue to campaign in Florida, said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani told a crowd during an Orlando luncheon on Friday that he, too, would continue to campaign here.

"I know how important your state is," the former New York mayor said. "It's going to do wonders for your economy because we're going to spend millions and millions of dollars on television."

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain also plans to be a frequent visitor.

The bill Crist signed also requires a verifiable paper trail for all voting machines throughout Florida although they won't be in place for the January primary. Currently, 15 of Florida's 67 counties use paperless touch-screen voting machines. The remaining counties use optical scan machines where a voter marks a paper ballot with a pencil and it is electronically scanned.

Florida's voting system attracted national attention in 2000 when dimpled, pregnant and hanging chads on punch card ballots held up a final count in the presidential election. Florida was eventually decided by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, handing the election to George W. Bush. The state has since banned the punch cards.

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Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy in New York and Seanna Adcox in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.