Free Republic

Hurricane Isaac isn’t the only storm developing in Tampa. The Republican National Committee is brewing up one of its own. Florida has a penchant for jumping in the gun when it comes to scheduling presidential primaries. We did it in 2008 and again in 2012. Republican National Committee rules provide that when a state moves its primary ahead of those of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the state forfeits half its delegates. That rule ended up reducing Florida’s delegates from 99 to 50 at Tampa convention.

California politicians say they want an early presidential primary so the nation's most populous state can play a greater role in the nominating contest. But it's an open secret here that what they really want is to keep their jobs a little longer. The early election, which could scramble the dynamics of the presidential race, is the fulcrum of a complicated deal between Democratic leaders and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that has nothing to do with presidential politics and everything to do with term limits on state lawmakers. Moving California's presidential primary from June to February next year would give...

The state Senate on Tuesday voted to move California's 2008 presidential primary from June to February to give the most populous state a larger say in national politics. California would join at least eight other states that have or are considering moving their presidential primaries to Feb. 5. "Right now, we don't matter," said Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert. "Because we are the biggest state, we will have the biggest impact." Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Oklahoma and Utah already have scheduled Feb. 5 primaries. Florida, Illinois and New Jersey are among states considering it, according to the National Conference of State...