Boy, talk about an intersection of my recreational interests.
From the Orlando Sentinel blog:
Hoping to muscle Florida into a preeminent role in picking next year’s Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, the state House voted 115-1 today to leapfrog almost all the other states and set a Jan. 29 primary, with an option to go even earlier.[...]
Still, senators of both parties have indicated support for an earlier primary. State Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, the Senate sponsor of an earlier primary, said the state would benefit by forcing presidential candidates to cater to Florida interests on issues such as windstorm insurance the way they traditionally cozy up to Iowa farmers on ethanol.
“The only leverage that we’re going to have with the presidential candidates is when they come to Florida and campaign here, and not just campaign for our money. They’re going to have to campaign for what’s important to Florida,” Ring said.
Amazing. Florida Dems are willing to sacrifice half their convention delegates in the faint hope of getting the rest of the country to subsidize further their life in harm’s way.