TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Democrats Still No-Shows In Florida

ADVERTISEMENT

By WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 10, 2008

TAMPA - The Florida primary appears even more critical to the Republican presidential nomination race after John McCain's New Hampshire win, but both leading Democrats seemed Wednesday to be intent on ignoring the Jan. 29 Florida vote.

In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson vowed that Hillary Rodham Clinton will stick to her pledge not to campaign in Florida before the state's primary.

The Barack Obama campaign didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment, but Frank Sanchez of Tampa, one of Obama's top Florida fundraisers, said Wednesday, "There is no doubt in my mind that Obama will not break the pledge."

There has been speculation that under competitive pressure, one of the two Democratic leaders might decide to break the pledge to gain an advantage in Florida, the largest and most representative state to vote before the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday.

Even Bill McBride, prominent Tampa Clinton backer, said Wednesday that he expected the pledge to be broken.

"I think somebody's going to come down here and campaign," McBride said. "For all these candidates, it's probably a question of who will go first."

Clinton, who leads in Florida polls, has been the subject of the most speculation. After her surprise loss to Obama in last week's Iowa caucuses, some Democratic strategists thought she might move to shore up the state as a fire wall at the end of the early primary season.

In a conference call, however, major Clinton backers, gleeful after their unexpected New Hampshire win, discussed their strategy for Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 without any mention of Florida on Jan. 29.

Wolfson even referred to Nevada and South Carolina as "the primaries between now and Feb. 5," as if the Florida vote were not happening.

Clinton and the other leading Democratic candidates have signed a pledge not to campaign in the Florida primary because the date chosen by the state Legislature violates the national party's schedule.

Wolfson emphasized that the primary contest is "a race for delegates." Florida has no delegates to offer because of national party sanctions.

Clinton now holds a delegate lead. She claims 182 to Obama's 78, with 2,025 needed to lock up the nomination, according to a count by CNN that includes "superdelegates," party leaders who can vote for any candidate they please.

The win for McCain adds to the likelihood that there will be no front-runner in the GOP race by the time of Florida's primary, and that Florida will be decisive, said state GOP chairman Jim Greer.

In the next primary for Republicans, Michigan on Tuesday, polls show Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee in a virtual tie. Romney hopes to win in part because of family history; his father, George Romney, was governor there and chairman of American Motors in the 1950s and 1960s.

So far, Romney has won only Wyoming, which has few delegates and wasn't heavily contested by most of the candidates, and ran second in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In South Carolina, where Republicans vote Jan. 19, polls show Huckabee leading and McCain in second place.

Romney, who has been spending heavily from his personal money to bolster his campaign, will stop advertising in Florida and South Carolina after this week to concentrate on Michigan, his campaign confirmed Wednesday.

In South Carolina, Romney had been spending about $280,000 per week and a total of $3 million in 2007. In Florida, he had been spending $160,000 per week and a total of $2.5 million in 2007.

Rudy Giuliani, who led in Florida polls for most of the summer, appeared to be holding on to that lead Wednesday.

A new poll by Internet political publishing firm Insider Advantage/Southern Political Report showed Giuliani with 25 percent, Huckabee and McCain with 19 percent each, Romney at 13 percent, Ron Paul at 5 percent, Duncan Hunter with 1 percent and 11 percent undecided.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT