IA, NH, NV, SC may get sued by Florida for "conspiracy to intimidate the presidential candidates"

[madfloridian]

I really thought Florida Senate leader Steve Geller was kidding in his own strange way. After reading this article today, I don't think he is kidding.

It just can not get any stranger here in Florida.

From the Tampa Tribune
Democrats Fight Sanctions

...state Sen. Steve Geller of Hallandale Beach vowed to file a lawsuit against the four early primary states that demanded the boycott.

Geller's lawsuit could be the third filed in the case. He said it will allege a "conspiracy to intimidate the presidential candidates" by the Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina Democratic parties that disenfranchises minority voters in Hillsborough County.

The county is one of the jurisdictions covered under the federal Voting Rights Act, so its minority voters are protected against anything that dilutes their voting power. Geller said the boycott pledge does that by preventing county voters from seeing the candidates at campaign events.

Looks like the candidates will be caught in the middle of this very bad situation brought on when the Florida Democrats voted almost 100% yes with the Florida Republicans to move the primary to January 29th. If they had voted no, if they had stood up to them...their delegates would have counted.

Here is more about the other suits going on here in Florida. Remember Kendall Coffey of Bush v Gore in 2000?

Florida Dems pick Kendall Coffey to challenge the DNC..."Echoes of 2000"

Echoes of 2000

Something about this sounds familiar: Florida Democrats have picked Kendall Coffey, the Miami attorney who took the lead for Al Gore during the 2000 recount, to challenge the Democratic National Committee's decision to relieve the state of its delegates at the 2008 presidential convention.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, Florida's top House Democrat, say they plan to file suit next week to force the DNC to recognize Florida's Jan. 29 presidential primary. The DNC voted last month that Florida must forfeit its delegates because the primary will be held before the allowed date of Feb. 5.

In spite of all the lawsuits, I really did not think Geller was serious about suing the first four states. I guess he is. He called them "terrorist rogue states" when he was speaking to a group of professional businessmen in Palm Beach.

I guess it should not have surprised me.