Florida primary move helps Perry

Joel Gehrke:
If Florida moves it's primary to January, as expected, despite Republican National Committee rules to the contrary, the state will have less of an impact on the Republican nomination process because of the proportional representation and loss of delegates that would ensue according to RNC rules; such a sequence would benefit Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas.
With two top-tier candidates in Perry and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., the current Republican field increasingly recalls the 2008 Democratic primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Originally, the Democratic National Committee penalized Florida for holding its primary ahead of schedule, but granted a compromise that significantly diminished the sting. Florida Republicans must hope the RNC will also back down.
Paul Senft, Florida's National Committeeman to the Republican National Committee,argued against the move today in an email, saying that Florida could "lock up the lead and momentum for a candidate" if the winner received Florida's full 99 delegates, but warned the state would "have little, if any, impact on the delegate count for any candidate" because even the winner could receive as few as 14 delegates if the RNC takes half Florida's delegate votes and awards them on a proporational basis. In Senft's scenario, the second place finisher gets 10 delegates. That means the winner would go from having a 99 point boost over his opponents from Florida to a 4 point gain. If this race comes down to a Romney-Perry fight, that 95 point swing could consign the GOP to a protracted state-by-state nomination process, because there might be no clear leader after a diminished Florida casts its votes.
... 
Florida seems to think that is some cache  to being early and having the candidates there and news media.  Their actions could actually boost the Texas primary which is in March and would be a winner take all.  It is one that Perry should win.

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