Top Florida Democrats Ask For Forgiveness
January 23rd, 2008 by flanewsTop Florida Democrats are making a last-minute plea to the party’s presidential candidates with the primary just days away. The leading contenders signed a pledge not to campaign in Florida and the state lost its Democratic delegates because the primary was moved to January 29th. As Chris Casquejo tells us, the state’s elected Democrats say two days of campaigning are better than none.
Hear it here: Top Florida Democrats Ask For Forgiveness
Democratic presidential hopefuls signed a pledge not to campaign here after the national party penalized the state for its early primary. But now the top elected Democrat in the state, CFO Alex Sink, is asking for forgiveness, and for the candidates to campaign here after the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
“They understand what’s at stake here in Florida,” Sink said. “The power of the media, and the opportunity to get their message out about their agenda.”
National party rules allow 4 states to hold nominating contests before February 5th. Florida is not one of them. Voters say the ban on Democrats campaigning hurts the state.
“It’s not doing a lot of good to get the voters involved, let’s put it that way,” said voter Bob McGuire. “If you feel like you’re vote doesn’t count now, it counts even less. And that’s not a good message to send to voters.”
In this case, even the state’s top Republican agrees with Democrats.
“My preference for my fellow Floridians, regardless of party, is that they have the opportunity to see candidates up close,” said Gov. Charlie Crist. “I think it’s a shame that they’ve made this ruling and I wish they were here.”
To punish the state for the early primary, Florida was stripped of its delegates at this summer’s Democratic national convention. The GOP is losing half its delegates over the early primary date.
The Democrats will hold their nominating convention in Denver in August. The GOP will pick its candidate in Minneapolis in September.
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