Iowa GOP threatens effort to strip Florida of 2012 Republican convention

The chairman of Iowa's Republican Party on Thursday backed an effort to possibly move the 2012 Republican National Convention out of Florida if that state sticks to its January primary date.

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said he would join the chairwoman of South Carolina's Republican Party, Karen Floyd, in an effort to reopen the process to select the site of the 2012 convention, which is slated to be held in Tampa.

"If Florida refuses to move its primary date into compliance with RNC rules, that consequence should be the re-opening of the process to select the site of the 2012 RNC Convention," Strawn said in a statement. "I join South Carolina Chairwoman Floyd today in beginning preparations to request that the Committee convene a special task force to select a new site for the 2012 Convention outside the state of Florida.”

At issue is the late January primary date set by Florida Republicans, which would leapfrog Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in the process. Those latter three states traditionally host the first three nominating contests of the presidential cycle.

Florida Republicans maintain that their state is more representative of the broader profile of the GOP, since the state's often crucial to any White House aspirant's hope of winning the presidency.

A similar controversy plagued Democrats in the 2008 contest between then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both Florida and Michigan set their primary dates earlier than party rules allowed, forcing the party to halve the value of those states' delegates' votes.