FR readers benefit from my borderline-obsessive need to know what is going on in California politics (okay, not so borderline).  But only my closest friends know that I keep almost as much of an eye on politics in Florida as I do ours here in the Golden State.  Actually, the developers who created the FlashReport website are in Florida, and this site is a spin off of programming they did for the Florida news-portal site of my friend, Justin Sayfie.

As you may know, Florida is also looking seriously at moving up their Presidential primary.  There were several articles yesterday about how their move might cause Florida Republicans to lose as many as half of their delegates to the Republican National Convention next summer.  I was curious if we are in a similar state of risk, given our plans here to move up the primary.  Fortunately the Treasurer of the Republican National Committee, Tim Morgan, is a Californian.  So I spoke with him, and he provided the following insight, to reassure us all:

Several states, including California, are currently working to change the date of their Presidential primaries. A bill moving rapidly through the California Legislature would move the California primary up from June 3 to February 5.
 
This has raised questions about what would prevent states from holding primaries as early as a year before the general election. The answer is found in Rule 15 of the Rules of the Republican Party adopted at the 2004 National Convention. Rule 15 establishes a "Primary Window" during which primaries and caucuses held for the purposes of "voting for a presidential candidate and/or selecting delegates or alternate delegates to the national convention" must be held – February 5 – July 28, 2008.
 
At an RNC conference call on Thursday, members were advised that Rule 16 provides a substantial penalty for any state that holds its presidential primary or selects delegates before February 5: loss of 50% of that state’s delegate votes at the convention. The RNC’s general counsel, Blake Hall, informed members that this penalty is mandatory, and RNC Chairman Mike Duncan stated his intention to strictly enforce this rule.
 
Bottom line for California Republicans: As long as California does not try to schedule its primary before the earliest date permitted under Rule 15 – February 5 – there will be no adverse consequences under party rules.

— Tim

Thanks for the speedy and comprehensive response, Tim!

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.