Clinton, Obama Camps Spar Over Importance Of Florida Vote

Relatively little attention has been paid to tomorrow's Democratic primary in Florida. That's because the national Democratic Party stripped Florida of its delegates to the nominating convention as punishment for the state moving its primary up to January 29th. (The more lenient Republicans only stripped Florida of half its delegates.) The Democrats also requested that candidates refrain from campaigning in the state, a request that has been honored – until recently.

Coming off a big loss in South Carolina, the Hillary Clinton campaign is trying to stress the importance of the Florida vote. That's not entirely surprising considering that Clinton has a substantial lead in state polls. "We now turn our attention to the millions of Americans who will make their voices heard in Florida," Clinton said in a statement on Saturday, following the South Carolina vote. She is now campaigning in the state and has vowed to seat Sunshine State delegates if she is the Democratic nominee.

The Obama campaign, meanwhile, has downplayed Florida's importance, saying the next important date in the primary calendar is Feb 5th, Super Tuesday.

"...while the Clinton campaign will likely wave shiny baubles in front of the media to try and divert their focus to certain states – or non-events like Florida – we will stay focused on doing as well as we can in each of the 22 states on February 5th and preparing for the nine states that come in rapid succession in those following two weeks," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in a memo to reporters.

Florida Democratic Party Communications Director Mark Bubriski argues the state's Democratic race is indeed an event.

"More Democrats have already physically cast their ballots in Florida than did in Nevada, Iowa or New Hampshire," said Bubriski. Florida allows early voting and the state's Democratic party estimates that 450,000 Democrats will cast early or absentee before the polls even open.

Bubriski argues that delegates are not terribly important at this point in the primary calendar and says the candidates' television exposure makes up for the fact that they have largely not campaigned in the state.

"At this point it's about momentum," Bubriski said. "And we are the final state to have a say before what is essentially a national primary."