Today’s update on the Fight To Be First:

  • The Republican calendar has received less attention that the meticulously planned Democratic schedule.  But the GOP is now weighing in with plans to punish five leapfrogging states (Florida, Michigan, Wyoming, South Carolina, and New Hampshire), in what the NY Times calls a “rare instance of the two parties moving in concert, in this case to regain control over a rapidly evolving primary calendar that has thrust the nominating system into deep uncertainty just months before it is to begin.”
  • At MyDD, Jonathan Singer argues, “the RNC’s move, at least on its surface, seems to make it easier for the DNC to threaten sanctions, if only for the fact that it would not, then, be alone in doing so.”  He also throws in some polite but firm IA/NH bashing, but it’s less intense than Carl Levin or Kos.
  • Also at MyDD, Jerome Armstrong contrasts the low-profile Republican sanctioning with the DNC’s drama last Saturday:

    The Florida Republicans didn’t hold a conference call and whine, or talk about suing the RNC, like the Democratic minority in Florida did over the DNC’s decision. The Florida Republicans just shrugged and stated the obvious: ‘I am confident that all 114 delegates from Florida will be seated,’ said Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

    This is only going to be a problem if either of the conventions is brokered, and then all hell is likely to break loose…

  • Who does early Florida help on the GOP side?  The Washington Post says Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, and has his PowerPoint to prove it (“Florida is the firewall” proclaims the second slide of the presentation…)