Florida Democrats sue party over primary

Congressional Democrats from Florida sued their party Thursday, hoping to restore national convention delegates stripped from the state because it scheduled an early presidential primary.

The party violated the Constitution and federal voting laws by taking away Florida Democrats’ ability to have a say in choosing the presidential nominee, says the lawsuit filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee L. Hastings against the Democratic National Committee and Chairman Howard Dean.

“For the DNC to say to the fourth-largest contingency of Democrats in the nation that their votes will not matter in next year’s presidential primary is not only shocking and ironic, but we believe is illegal,” Hastings said at a news conference in Washington.

The national party’s rules committee voted to take away Florida’s 210 delegates after the state party chose to go along with a Jan. 29 primary. That date was set by Florida’s GOP-led Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primaries or caucuses before Feb. 5, except for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Nelson said they tried to compromise with party leaders before filing the lawsuit.

The calendar was designed to preserve the traditional role that Iowa and New Hampshire have played in selecting the nominee while adding two states with more racial and geographic diversity to influential early slots.

South Carolina Democrats will decide within two weeks whether to ask national party leaders to move the state’s primary to Jan. 19 and make it the party’s first contest in the South.