St Pete Times columnist says Florida Democrats loved the early primary bill....and more.

madfloridian

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Thu Jun-05-08 01:12 PM
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St Pete Times columnist says Florida Democrats loved the early primary bill....and more.

Edited on Thu Jun-05-08 01:58 PM by madfloridian

He also says the early primary bill did so much more. It gave Charlie Crist a way to run for VP without resigning from his office. Howard Troxler points this out in Troxblog. He also takes great delight in saying "I told you so" over that bill.

How Hard did Florida Democrats Fight

I have a few e-mails gently protesting my Tuesday column, which blamed the Legislature -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- for moving the state's primary too early.

My friends ask: Isn't it true that the Democrats had no choice? The same bill back in 2007 also got rid of touch-screen voting machines, and they had to take the good with the bad, so it wasn't really their fault.

But I politely disagree, having kept track of the process. House Bill 537 did all kinds of things to Florida elections, some good and some bad. The entire Legislature rushed to pass it. I argued that the issues should have been separated, that the earlier primary was a bad idea, and that the governor should have vetoed it. But he didn't -- maybe because one part of the same bill now allows him to run for vice-president without resigning.

And Howard Troxler, thank you, thank you, thank you. And did I remember to thank you?

The Democrats in the Legislature did not fight the move to the earlier primary; in fact lots of them liked it. At the last minute, as a cynical ploy, some Democrats offered an late amendment to block the change in the primary date -- but they admitted on the floor of the Legislature it was only so that they could show the Democratic National Committee they had put up a token resistance. This is the basis of the present-day revisionist claim that "we fought it but the Republicans made us do it."

Here's a video clip (sorry about the introductory commercial; I hate that) that shows the extent of the "debate" that the Democrats put up on the floor of the Florida Senate. Minority leader Steve Geller says as much. When the presiding officer asks Geller whether the Democrats are just kidding, Geller replies, with obvious sarcasm: "Oh, no, we really, really want this."

Oh, yeh, that video clip. Here it is WITHOUT the commercial in front of it...and back on You Tube thanks to the Canadian DUer who put it back up after it was taken down.

Geller and his amendment he mocked.

A look back at Troxler's Tuesday column to which he referred in which he blamed "everybody" for the vote to move it up.

Troxler places blame for the early primary vote.

Now, when Florida did this, did Florida know the national parties would not like it?

Yes, indeed.

But Florida did it anyway. Florida thought an early election would be a bigger deal.

Except …

Howard Troxler did my heart good today. He is enjoying his moment of saying I told you so.

And Charlie Crist gets to run as VP while keeping his day job.