In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Republican officials in South Carolina and Iowa ratcheted up the fight over the 2012 primary calendar Thursday, demanding that the party move its 2012 convention out of Florida if the state continues to insist on an early spot in the nominating process…Florida’s 2012 primary is set for Jan. 31, in violation of both national parties’ rules, which require it to move back to March at the earliest.
I would love Florida to be the first primary in 2012. Florida has the same number of delegates as New York. Benefits: 1) Multiple industrial and energy sectors, 2) Diverse population that includes Cubans/Hispanics that the party needs to grow, and 3) Nicer weather than Iowa in winter.
Iowa stinks because a) caucus, not a primary, b) ethanol subsidies, c) bible thumpers, and d) zero diversity. Let’s dump Iowa. New Hampshire and South Carolina can follow Florida in the schedule. Move Iowa to the middle of the pack. Their reign of terror over the Republican primary system needs to end.
- Comment (23)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Dec '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
I'd like to see a primary system where the first primary is in the state that with the highest percentage for the Republican candidate in the last election.
Can't do that with Democrats? Then the state with the closest percentage between the Democrat and the Republican.
New Hampshaah is killing us.
Edited on Mar 31, 2011 at 5:01pmMay '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
The first two or three states should also have closed primaries.
Jun '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Right on, Ken. I am proud of my fellow Florida Republicans taking this stand. The Iowa and New Hampshire fetish has been a blight on the electorial process far too long. Florida has racial, ethnic and religious diversity beyond Iowa or New Hampshire and is not far off those two in age demographics. Most important, Florida is an excellent test of which candidate will be able to carry ... Florida.
(IA-6, NH-4,NV-6,SC-9 = 25 2012 Electorial Votes vs Florida's 29)
Jul '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
I'm with you, Ken. Problem is that the farm-subsidy harlots of Iowa will just move their primary caucus up again.
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
The grass roots revolt begins! No blood for corn oil !
Jan '11
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
You want the state which gave birth to the Saga of the Hanging Chad to be the first state to hold a primary?
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Those nefarious “butterfly ballots” were created by Democrats. I like to think Republicans are smarter (or at a minimum, more practical).
Mar '11
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
I say the earlier the better for Florida. Much like a "chad," most of the population is barely hanging on. If they're going to vote anyway, at least make it BEFORE they die. (You could have Arizona's on the same day.)
Jan '11
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
All the primaries are way too early so lets go with nothing before April 1st and have a free-for-all after that. That should eliminate the problem of Iowa (subsidy whores) and New Hampshire (really, we're going to let the 42nd ranked state in population determine our national candidate).
Jun '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Nix to the Iowa caucus system. Florida would be a good place to start. NH can follow. Then let's add a western state--say Colorado. That way we can see a bit more diversity in results.
Absolutely agree that these should be closed primaries.
Jun '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Ken Sweeney
Iowa stinks because a) caucus, not a primary, b) ethanol subsidies, c) bible thumpers, ... d) zero diversity and e) approximately 30 million hogs are raised in Iowa each year. From the same cite: "Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the U.S..." I think they were still talking about hogs, but maybe not.
(My apologies to any Ricocheters from the Hawkeye State whom I may have offended)
Jul '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
We need to scrap the whole Rube Goldberg state-by-state primary system. How does it make sense for voters in three states, representing less than 7 percent of the nation's population, to choose the nominee?
A primary system that gave us Bob Dole and John McCain is fatally flawed.
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Wow, I'm glad I took down my NH license plate profile picture. (Though saying that probably defeats the purpose...)
If Florida had gone first 4 years ago, would we have a President Giuliani and would Senator Obama be just the latest John Kerry/Algore?
Also, New Hampshire did a pretty darn good job picking candidates for a long stretch of years, didn't it? It fell victim to the national trend in '06 and '08 but never forget that in 2000, amid a sea of Northeast Blue, NH's 4 electoral votes stood alone and went Red, those 4 votes without which we would have had a President Algore. President Algore! Never forget that. (Y'all're welcome.)
And NH went hugely GOP last November.
May '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Kenneth: It makes sense because screening candidates is too important to be left to Californians. Can't disagree about the Iowa caucus, though. Serious contenders would be well advised to skip it altogether.
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Kenneth: We need to scrap the whole Rube Goldberg state-by-state primary system. How does it make sense for voters in three states, representing less than 7 percent of the nation's population, to choose the nominee?
A primary system that gave us Bob Dole and John McCain is fatally flawed. · Apr 1 at 10:02am
Two of those 3 states gave McCain a smaller percentage victory than did Florida. Does that mean voters representing less than 7% of the nation's population unduly influenced the other 93%? If so, shame on that 93% for not thinking for themselves.
Also, at least one of those 3 states didn't give Dole a primary victory in 1996. Not sure how a Pat Buchanan victory in NH in 1996 helped Dole with the other 93% of the electorate.
It's a Rube Goldberg setup for sure, but it's not the little states' fault that the Stupid Party gave us Dole and McCain.
Jul '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
In 2008, I thought Rudy Giuliani should have made a bold statement about his decision not to participate in the Iowa caucus. He should have said, "Listen, this process in Iowa is not representative of the nation at large. I'm not going to prostrate myself to the narrow interests of one state's ethanol lobby, which costs the citizens of every other state billions of dollars."
May '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
As long as we have a staggered primaries system, I don't give a damn who is first and who is last. Any person who thinks his or her state should determine the candidate selection for voters of other states is no friend of mine. Don't talk to me about reform unless you mean simultaneous primaries in all states.
That said, Florida is the land of retirees. If you want to test the willingness of Americans to reform entitlement programs, that's the place to start.
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
Pilgrim
Iowa stinks because a) caucus, not a primary, b) ethanol subsidies, c) bible thumpers, ... d) zero diversity and e) approximately 30 million hogs are raised in Iowa each year. From the same cite: "Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the U.S..." I think they were still talking about hogs, but maybe not.
· Apr 1 at 9:57am
I love bacon!
Oct '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
I have no problems with NH or SC. They are in separate sections of the geography, and have an engaged population. The problem has been candidates getting in too early and blowing through funds for the first 3 weeks of the primary season. I am actually glad candidates are waiting to enter the race this cycle.
Here are some additional points: 1) The "caucus" style feels like mob rule to me, not "one person, one vote" like primaries. 2) The left wing Senator Tom Harkin has been bringing home the bacon for years--Republicans need to skip the state it entirely.
I recommend rotating the first primary state across different regions in the country. Florida 2012, Ohio 2016, Texas 2020, etc...
Aug '10
Re: In Support of Florida as the First Primary State
As a resident of Florida, I'm going to object to making us first. We're already one of the big necessary electoral college states, and as such get swamped with visits and political ads every two years. I do not want swarms of Presidential hopefuls, wannabes, and Dennis Kucinich clones jamming up I-95, early and often!