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Martinez defends role during primary fight
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, new chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the Buzz on Wednesday that he warned the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist what the consequences would be for Florida if the state moved its primary up.
Florida officials chose to move it to Jan. 29 anyway -- violating Republican party rules.
"Once I made sure they knew they couldn't come to me and say 'Gee, Mel but you're the chairman'...then that's all I did,'' Martinez said."The party's rules are inflexible but the party also understands that the states are free to do what they will. They just need to know the consequences of what they do."
Martinez predicts other states will want to move up their primaries now too. "It is probably going to be a free for all. For the future we may need to think about how we control the process better and we may need to think about a national primary day or something like that. "
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