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A date has yet to be set for Florida voters to make their choice in the Presidential Preference Primary. The state’s top elected officials have argued for an early February date to make Florida more important, but anything earlier than March 6th would violate national party rules.

The Republican Presidential Candidate Debate in Tampa is proof that the 8 candidates consider Florida important.

And in an effort to be even more relevant, the state is flirting with an early primary…House Speaker Dean Cannon has been driving the train for a date in February. Cannon now says “And while I would not want to leapfrog the traditional early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, my view is that Florida should go no later than fifth and that we should have our own date.”

Arizona has picked February 28th, setting off a race to see who can one up the other among key states.

Unable to pick a date this spring, Cannon and others set up a ten member commission to set the date…but no one has yet to be named to make the decision.

State law says the primary must be held sometime between the first Tuesday in January and the first Tuesday in March. The problem is that only the March date meets national party requirements.

The delay is making elections supervisors nervous. Back in May, they wrote the Governor that a decision in October would not allow for proper planning. Leon elections Supervisor Ion Sancho is worried “Now you are going to have to have substitute precincts because the facilities will not be available,” says Sancho.

Florida Democratic Party executive Director Scott Arceneaux says Democrats won’t participate if there is an early date.  “And Florida Republicans chose to ignore both their own committee and our committee. They put people in a real bad spot”.

The ten member commission must contain at least 3 minority party members, but while the law says the commission picking the primary date must contain at least three minority members, it does not specify they must be Democrats.