Democratic stars skip party's Florida convention

By Barbara Liston

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (Reuters) - The Democratic Party's convention in Florida during the weekend was like a rock concert performed solely by warm-up bands.

"This would be the least exciting (convention) in 30 years, the least encouraging," said a noticeably deflated, long-time Democratic conventioneer Alice Long Owens of St. Augustine, Florida.

Despite Florida's role as a major battleground in U.S. presidential elections -- President George W. Bush ended up in the White House in 2000 after taking the state by a handful of disputed votes -- Democratic stars like Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois were no-shows.

All the leading Democratic presidential candidates followed orders from the Democratic National Committee to boycott the 3-day convention at the Walt Disney World resorts, and public campaigning in the state in general, as punishment for Florida's move to hold its presidential primary early.

Instead of getting pumped up by Clinton and Obama, the Florida Democrats politely applauded keynote speeches by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida and House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

"It put a real damper on it," said Owens.

The Democratic National Committee has said Florida's delegates will not be seated at the 2008 national Democratic convention in Denver because the state's primary, brought forward to January 29, violates party rules against holding the balloting before February 5.

Iowa and New Hampshire are exceptions to the rule and South Carolina and Nevada have also been given a green light to hold early primaries.