Considering that the Jewish community is overwhelmingly Democratic, a thoughtful reader might legitimately wonder why so much of JTA’s coverage in Florida has been focused on the Republicans (here, here). Well, that’s because the Democratic Party is pledging not to seat the state’s delegates at the convention this summer and the leading Dem candidates are going along with the boycott of the state.
The issue: Florida decided to move its primary up to Jan. 29, in violation of Democratic Party rules.
Some Democrats in Florida are making a last ditch effort to get the Dems to drop their boycott after South Carolina’s primary on Saturday, leaving a few days for the Clinton-Obama-Edwards show to hit the Sunshine State. Their argument is that the effect of the boycott is to give the GOP a huge leg up in the fight for Florida in November.
Whether one buys this argument and/or thinks the Democratic National Committee was morally justified in cracking the whip, the effect is clear: After nearly eight years of Democrats complaining that Jews and other minorities had their voices silenced in 2000, the DNC is now doing just that.
Check out JTA and the Forward on how the Jews in Florida are taking it.
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