Republican officials in Florida will decide on Friday whether to hold their primary in late January, a move that could cause the nominating process to start shortly after New Year’s Day.
Florida GOP leaders have indicated that they will set their primary for Jan. 31, leapfrogging the four states the Republican National Committee has permitted to go first. In doing so, the state will be forfeiting half its delegates to the party’s 2012 national convention, which is being held in Tampa. - Washington Post
Should Florida decide to move into January, it could set off a game of leapfrog between South Carolina, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
Meanwhile, friend of the people, Scott Walker in Wisconsin is for some reason sitting on a bill to set their primary date. The State Assembly and Senate passed a bill that would make April 3rd the primary date.
One state that conceivably could crash the party is Wisconsin where Gov. Scott Walker (R) has yet to sign legislation changing its primary from Feb. 21 to April. But RNC officials said they have no reason to believe other states including Wisconsin will attempt to hold contests in February. - The Fix
So if Florida does move up to January, we could possibly see a convention held in a state where it's delegates lose half their votes.
Matt Strawn, Iowa — “The four sanctioned, early states have been very clear that we will move together, if necessary, to ensure order as outlined in RNC rules. If we are forced to change our dates together, we will.”
We should find out around Noon Eastern what Florida decides.
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