FL: Panel to Decide Primary Date

Politico reports:

Florida Republicans aren’t retreating from their quest to hold an early 2012 presidential primary. But they are advancing in a different direction.

State House Speaker Dean Cannon announced Wednesday that the legislature will consider a bill putting the choice of a 2012 primary date in the hands of a special commission, which he dubbed a “presidential preference primary date selection committee.” If the proposal becomes law, a 10-member panel would be responsible for choosing a primary date sometime between the first Tuesday in January and the first Tuesday in March.

That gives Republican leaders “a measure of flexibility,” Cannon said, in sorting out the thorniest problem in the 2012 calendar.

The Sunshine State’s primary is currently scheduled for Jan. 31, 2012 — a date that violates Republican and Democratic National Committee rules that permit only a handful of states to hold primary elections before the beginning of March. The Jan. 31 date would put Florida ahead of the traditional early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. The RNC has vowed to penalize Florida’s delegates at the Tampa convention next year if the state doesn’t comply with the rules.

But Cannon, along with Sen. Marco Rubio and state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, have bristled at suggestions that Florida join the ranks of ordinary states that begin holding their elections in March. Cannon stuck by that position on a Wednesday conference call. While he still wants Florida to play a critical role in the 2012 calendar, Cannon noted there are only 24 days left in Florida’s legislative session to reconsider the Jan. 31 date.