Florida bucks party leaders, will likely set primary for January 31st

If you’ve been following the GOP primary schedule, you know some states have been moving all over the map in terms of their primary or caucus date. Much to the chigrin of GOP party leaders, Florida had been toying with a January 31st primary date which is well ahead of Iowa, New Hampshire and everyone else for that matter. This hasn’t yet been set in stone, however, Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon says the January 31st date is the likely choice of the state commission charged with choosing the date.

Report from CNN:

Washington (CNN) — Florida is now expected to hold its presidential primary on the last day in January 2012, a move likely to throw the carefully arranged Republican nominating calendar into disarray and jumpstart the nominating process a month earlier than party leaders had hoped.

Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon told CNN on Tuesday that a state commission exploring potential primary dates is likely to choose January 31 to hold the nominating contest.

If that happens, it would almost certainly force the traditional early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada to leapfrog Florida and move their primaries and caucuses into early- to mid-January.

“We are expecting to meet on Friday from 11 to 12, and I expect that they will pick January 31 as Florida’s primary date,” said Cannon, who helped select members of the nine-member commission.

This will cause a major uproar if it happens. I’m not convinvced it will yet considering how much this will disrupt the calendar and force us into a very early January for contests in Iowa and New Hampshire if they choose to move their date also.