The DNC Should Let The Campaign Come To Florida

It looks like Florida is only holding a Republican primary next Tuesday, but there is one for the Democrats too. Since Florida jumped ahead of the Democratic National Committee’s official campaign calender, they where punished. The official early states, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina, all demanded that the candidates not campaign in Florida for stepping out of line. But after South Carolina’s primary Florida can no longer hurt them. So it makes sense for the DNC, and Howard Dean to drop this little charade, and let the Democrats come to Florida right after South Carolina. Besides, some of the candidates are already showing TV ads in Florida clandestinely . Why not let all of them spend some of their war chest in and on delegate rich Florida. Alex Sink, Florida’s elected Chief Financial Officer, sent a letter to Howard Dean and the Democratic chairpersons of the four official early states, asking them that the Democratic candidates be allowed to campaign in Florida now. “At this point, the effort to preclude Democratic presidential candidates from campaigning in Florida is serving no purpose except to give the Republican Party a head start in the general election,” Sink said at a press conference. “There is nothing left to be gained by permitting the Republican candidates to barnstorm through our state unchallenged – allowing them to monopolize the airwaves and dominate the news coverage,” she said. “The four chairs of the New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina Democratic parties have the ability to release the candidates from their pledge. And Howard Dean, who, as chairman of the DNC, encouraged the boycott against Florida as well as the stripping of our delegates, can play a leadership role in ending this needless embargo and thereby help us win in Florida in the general election,” said Sink. “I am calling on Mr. Dean to provide that leadership so that the national party does not put our presidential nominee at a competitive disadvantage in Florida, a state with 27 electoral votes,” Sink added. After the South Carolina polls close on the 26th the candidates will have campaigned all they can in those four early states, and need to move on. The voters in Florida deserve a chance to see and hear from all the candidates, and not make this another meaningless primary like Michigan was. Right now as it stands Hillary Clinton could have a cheap win in Florida, because she leads in all the polls. Barack Obama is the only Democrat with even TV ads in Florida. The DNC is punishing the voters for what a Republican lead legislature did, and the Florida voters deserve better than that from the Democratic party. Florida is fourth in electoral votes, and has more electoral votes than the four official early states combined. At this point in the game, with absentee voting and early voting in Florida, they have already exceeded total voting in Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Florida is the most diverse state of any of these. With all this going for Florida, there is no reason to keep the candidates out of Florida any longer. Come on Howard Dean, open your eyes.
Alan Cosgrove