Florida's decision to set Jan. 31 as its 2012 presidential primary evoked anger from other states and a sense of resignation from the Republican National Committee.
"The decision by Florida is hugely disappointing and could have been avoided. Rogue states have once again dictated the presidential nominating calendar," said South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly.
Connelly called on "all Republicans to strongly condemn Florida's decision" and for the RNC to disqualify all Florida delegates.
But a high-ranking RNC official in Washington, D.C., said, "It is what it is, and we'll move on."
By moving up the calendar, Florida will lose half its voting delegates to the national convention, as happened in 2008 when the state advanced its primary to the same Jan. 31 date.
But brushing aside cries for more punitive penalties, RNC officials affirmed that the 2012 national convention will be held in Tampa, as scheduled, and said that no further penalties would be imposed on the state for shuffling the calendar.
Other early-voting states, however, cried for blood.
Iowa state GOP chairman Matt Strawn said, "The arrogance shown by Florida's elected leadership is disappointing, but not surprising. Equally troubling is to see this petulant behavior rewarded with our national convention."
Strawn said the party penalties should include "refusing to credential or seat any member of Florida's primary date selection panel."
Nevada Republican Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian called Floridas decision "disappointing and, frankly, disrespectful of the other early primary states and the process as a whole."
The four "carve-out" states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- will undoubtedly advance their own caucus and primary dates to stay ahead of Florida, setting up a rerun of the 2008 calendar that had five states voting in January.
The Republican National Committee voted to "elongate" the 2012 primary season by denying winner-take-all votes in any states that held primaries before April 1.
The goal, party officials said, was to get more states involved in the nomination process. The plan was for only six or seven states to cast ballots by the end of February, instead of the 21 states that did so in 2008.
Enforcing the new rules, the RNC will strip half the delegates from any state that set its primary before Feb. 1. Iowa remains the lone exception because its caucus is nonbinding, said RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski.
Florida representatives Sharon Day and Paul Senft voted for the new rules.
Joining the chorus of Florida critics this week, Senft, a national committeeman, said the Jan. 31 primary means the Sunshine State "will have little, if any, impact on the delegate count for any candidate."
"We're slapping the RNC in the face after they gave the convention to Florida, and we have not given the new rules a chance to see if they work," he said.
Senft huffed, "Sharon Day and I will now be embarrassed for our state as we host the convention from the back row and have a hotel 30 to 40 miles away."
Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, who appointed three of the nine members of the bipartisan committee that set the Jan. 31 date, said the nation's largest swing state deserves to be among the first five states to cast ballots.
Voting on that same date in 2008, Florida Republicans, with a last-minute endorsement by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, supported John McCain, who went on to seal the nomination a few weeks later.
RNC officials say Florida will be hard-pressed to replicate that front-loaded clout in 2012.
Because all states voting before April 1 must award delegates proportionately, it will be harder for a single candidate to quickly amass the delegates needed to lock up the nomination.
"About 1,400 delegates were selected by the end of February in 2008. In 2012, you won't have a tenth of that," said an RNC official who spoke on background during a teleconference Friday afternoon.
At least one dark-horse presidential candidate wasn't reassured, however.
Rick Santorum told Fox News "somebody in Florida" is working to shorten the primary time for Mitt Romney or Rick Perry.
"I'm sure they'd like to have the election tomorrow," the former Pennsylvania senator said. "By moving up the calender, you help the favorites."
Florida's move left the other early-voting states fuming and frustrated because it effectively forced them to push up their primaries to January. By so doing, they, too, will be stripped of half their delegates by the RNC.
South Carolina's Connelly said in a statement:
"States that have worked so hard to maintain the nominating calendar should not be penalized and the offenders, including Florida, should lose their entire allocations of delegates at the national convention.
"Rules matter and the four traditional early states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- did everything they could to avoid this unfortunate situation."
All states face a deadline of noon Saturday to submit their primary dates to the RNC.
In addition to Florida, Arizona and Michigan are in violation of national party rules for setting their primaries on Feb. 28. They, too, will lose half their delegates for doing so.
Meanwhile, Republican Party of Florida officials announced Friday they had reached an agreement with CNN to conduct a presidential primary debate in Jacksonville before the Jan. 31 vote -- date and time to be announced.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
