Sensing opportunity in the dispute between Florida Democrats and their national party, the Florida Republican Party sent voter registration forms to thousands of Democrats.
And today, they're launched a "fundraiser tracker" on their website, hoping that reporters pick up on the idea that Democratic presidential candidates are eager to exploit Florida's rich source of campaign donations but, in honoring a pledge to the sanctioned early state candidates, are ignoring the Democratic voters at the same time.
The party estimates that Democrats have already raised $7.2M from donors in the state.
This is ticky-tack politics, but it works: the Florida Democratic Party really has no way of responding because they agree with the premise: abiding by the pledge does indeed make it appear as if the Dem presidential candidates are exploiting Florida for its money. A side note:
Did Obama break the pledge? He held a "news conference" with reporters in Florida.
After the fundraiser at Scarritt’s Hyde Park home, Obama crossed the street to take half a dozen questions from reporters waiting there.
The pledge covers anything referred to in Democratic National Committee rules as “campaigning,” and those rules include “holding news conferences.”
Obama seemed unaware of that. Asked whether he was violating the pledge, he said, “I was just doing you guys a favor. … If that’s the case, then we won’t do it again.”
That was less than a day after the pledge took effect Saturday, and Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Florida since then.
The leading Democrats have pledged not to campaign in Florida until the Jan. 29 primary, except for fundraising, at the demand of the four “early primary states—Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
