What happened in Florida?
The short version is that the state's Republican-run legislature and Republican governor wanted to move the primary to January 29 to increase Florida's influence over the nomination process. This move this move violated DNC Delegate Selection Rule 11A, which prohibited Florida from holding a primary earlier than February 5.
Attached to the bill to move the state's primary was a provision requiring that a paper trail be kept for Florida elections. Anyone who remembers the 2000 debacle knows why a paper trail is needed. So not only were Florida Democrats strongly outnumbered in the state legislature, but they could not vote against a bill that included the paper trail requirement. For more information, please visit the Florida Democratic Party's Web page.
On January 29, a record 1.7 million voters participated in the 2008 Democratic primary.
As punishment for breaking the rules, the DNC has stripped Florida of all of its delegates and prohibited the Democratic presidential candidates from campaigning in the state. The Republican National Committee (RNC) stripped Florida of only half of its delegates and allowed their candidates to campaign in the state.
Because of the DNC's punishment, the Republicans have gotten a head start on the general election. Florida's Democratic primary was also portrayed in the media as being nothing more than a beauty contest, thus producing no momentum for the winning candidate.
It is the position of the Black Sheep Delegation that the Democratic voters of Florida are not responsible for the bill that was passed by the Florida legislature, and that their delegates should be seated. They voted in record numbers because they are concerned about the issues that affect this country, not primary schedules.