Cmte. Meeting To Decide Fla. Primary Date

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBSMiami.com) – The date of Florida's 2012 presidential primary is still up in the air, but a special committee met Friday for the first time to try to select the best day.

A panel of six legislators, including former Governor Bob Martinez and a top aide to Governor Rick Scott, met in Tallahassee Friday.

Several Florida Republican leaders are asking for the presidential primary date to be set at a time that would make Florida the fifth state to hold a primary in 2012.

If the committee were to do that, it would have to schedule the primary before February 28; when Arizona is set to hold their 2012 primary.

The problem for Florida is that the GOP doesn't want any state to hold a primary or caucus before March 6. The exceptions to that rule are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

A similar problem arose in 2008 when the Florida primary was moved up, thus violating Democratic National Committee rules. A deal was eventually struck to allow the Florida delegates to cast their vote at the Democratic National Convention.

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