Given the serious media attention that Florida has received over the last week or so, and given that Florida’s primary is going to be discussed as being decisively important for probably most of the month of February, I am betting that the state’s GOP leadership is actually quite pleased that it decided to buck the national leadership in terms of the scheduling of the primary (as well as violating party rules for early states concerning whether the contests can be winner-take-all or not—see here).
The issue of Florida’s delegate allocation and its schedule will be wholly moot by the time convention takes place this summer. More likely than not, Mitt Romney will be the nominee and the issue of Florida will be an asterisk at best (but, ironically, one that will have propelled Romney to said nomination confirming that the Florida GOP was right to ignore the RNC). And even if the unlikely happens (i.e., Romney implodes), Florida’s primary will not be an issue at the RNC’s convention (which will still not redeem the RNC as Florida still will have gotten the attention it wanted).
If one needs a good illustration of the weakness of the parties (and an illustration of how US parties lack a unified “establishment”), one need look no farther than Florida and the issue of the primary schedule.
