Flouting party rules, Florida set to announce January primary

Florida’s expected move to set a late January primary will force other states to move their nominating contests ahead in kind, pushing the start of the Republican presidential sweepstakes closer to -- and perhaps even earlier than -- New Year’s Day.

Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon says state Republican leaders have agreed to move the state’s presidential primary to Jan. 31, more than a month ahead of schedule, in order to make sure the nation’s largest swing state will go fifth in the nominating pecking order.

That decision, first reported by CNN, will be formalized Friday by a panel named by Republican Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders, a move that violates rules established by the Republican National Committee intended to start the nominating process in February.

The party rules say only four states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- can hold nominating contests in February, and other states must wait until the first Tuesday in March.

Florida leaders have intended for their contest to be next in that lineup, and are setting the date for Jan. 31, given that other states have already moved to or are keeping their contests in February.

“Florida’s rightful position is fifth. We will have to go no earlier than Jan. 31,” Cannon told the Orlando Sentinel. “We think that’s the right date.”

States that move ahead of the established RNC window face penalties, including slashing the size of the state’s delegation to the national convention. Whether the party will follow through on that threat, particularly for Florida given that the convention is set to be held in Tampa, is unclear.

One thing is certain: Iowa and New Hampshire won’t be dislodged from their positions as the leadoff caucuses and primary state, respectively.

Matt Strawn, Iowa’s Republican Party chairman, reaffirmed to the Des Moines Register on Wednesday that his state “will be first.” He also argued that the moves by Florida and others only make the caucuses more important.

“A compressed caucus and primary calendar makes doing well in the four kickoff states a necessity for a candidate to secure the Republican nomination,” he said.

No state has the kind of scheduling power that New Hampshire does, with Secretary of State Bill Gardner authorized to set the first-in-the-nation primary at any time.

In an interview, Gardner said he was waiting for Florida’s decision to be made official before making any determinations about how it might affect the date of New Hampshire’s primary.

The first change he would probably make is to move up the three-week filing period for candidates to get on the ballot, currently scheduled for Nov. 7-18.

“I only would move it up if there was a potential that we’d have to go in December, like last time,” Gardner said. He is not ruling out a December primary this year.

“If necessary,” Gardner says, noting that the state’s primary law was amended recently to allow for a primary in the year before the presidential election.

Faced with the possibility of a December primary in 2007, he moved the filing period up to Oct. 15. He ultimately announced in late November that the primary would be held Jan. 8.

“I always will do it as soon as I can, but I’ve never changed it,” he said. “When I set it, that’s it. I don’t want somebody else to be able to find a way to get their way in.”

Gardner said he was also keeping an eye on Michigan and Georgia, which will announce its primary date Thursday. Nevada’s plan to hold caucuses the Saturday after New Hampshire’s primary also would violate the Granite State’s requirement that there be seven days between “similar contests.”

Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel contributed to this report.