As you might have heard this week, the Florida GOP seems hell-bent on violating rules and guidelines set up by the Republican National Committee and moving their Presidential Primary up on the calendar. Bad state, bad, bad state.Why should you care?
Several reasons, not the least of which is the economic impact a first in the South” position gives to SC. Just as important, we all know the Florida really isn”t “the South” so how can they even suggest they could actually be “first in the South”. That is just not possible. Third, there has to be some behind the scenes wrangling to push the Florida GOP to do this and risk a loss of delegates to the national convention which is being held, you guessed it, in Tampa.
Somebody out there does not want a loss in SC before the attention comes to Florida? So just who benefits the most from Florida going ahead of SC? Clearly it would be Romney or Huntsman. Both have spent significant time, energy and resources in Fla. In SC, not so much. Frankly, it is a smart strategy from their perspective, and remember that it was our own Lee Atwater was originally orchestrated SC’s position to benefit his own candidate. That does not mean we have to like it. And it does mean that the SC GOP should fight like crazy to keep our place in the mix. The real question that voters, observers and the media needs to be asking is who is pulling the strings? Who is pushing the Florida GOP to create such bad will in a year where the party needs to get unified, fast to defeat Obama next fall?
