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.

Nelson, along with Florida Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings, has sued the Democratic National Committee, saying the party boycott denies Floridians the right to have their votes counted in the selection of the nominee in the November 2008 election.

In a speech, Nelson said the national primary election system needed to be revamped, but he suggested the 2008 presidential election controversy would be resolved by allowing the states permitted by the committee to hold early primaries to skip ahead of Florida.

Nelson also said Florida, the country's fourth most populous state, ultimately would not be hurt.

"The state will not suffer because we are going to get the candidates here," Nelson said on Friday. Nelson did not elaborate, other than to announce a news conference at his Orlando office on Monday.