Florida Delays Setting Primary Date; It's South Carolina's Move Now

Florida Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed Friday that the state should schedule its presidential primary to be the fifth in the nation.

By national party rules, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina hold the first four positions in 2012.

But other states -- notably Arizona, Missouri and Michigan -- are crowding in, and Florida wants to conduct its primary before the scheduled March 6 multistate Super Tuesday.

"My preference is to go immediately after South Carolina," said state Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, a member of the bipartisan Presidential Preference Primary Date Selection Committee.

Former Democratic state Sen. Al Lawson of Tallahassee, another committee member, agreed.

"We're the largest and most diverse swing state in the country. We need to be a player," Lawson said.

South Carolina's primary is tentatively set for Feb. 28, but officials vowed to move that up because Arizona set the same date.

With the 2012 calendar in flux, the Florida committee, chaired by Secretary of State Kurt Browning, voted unanimously to defer its decision until next Friday, when more specific dates may be available.

In any event, the panel must settle on a date by Oct. 1.