In what many see as a preemptive warning aimed at preventing further chaos in the 2008 presidential nominating calendar, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee today voted to strip Florida of all its delegates to next year's convention. While the Sunshine State can regain its full compliment of delegates if it brings its primary plan into compliance with Democratic rules, the vote was a slap on the wrist stronger than some had expected.

DNC rules allow states to select delegates between February 5th and June 10th. By scheduling its primary January 29th, set to coincide with South Carolina's Democratic primary, Florida was found out of compliance.

Testifying before the committee, Florida Democratic Party chair Karen Thurman blamed her state's Republican-led legislature for setting the January 29th primary in state law and, echoing previous statements from Florida Senator Bill Nelson, warned that by sanctioning Florida the DNC would be disenfranchising millions of Democratic voters.

Exchanges between the committee and those testifying were sometimes contentious, and few committee members voiced support for Florida's arguments. "I find the word 'disenfranchisement' to be an overstatement," David McDonald, a committee member from Washington State, told Thurman. In the end, just one committee member, Floridian Allan Katz, voted against the sanctions.

The committee's statements reflected a growing frustration with the calendar crisis. After two years of work, the party is still hashing out exactly when states will nominate their presidential candidate. Many on the committee expressed sympathy that Florida Democrats would likely have to undertake a huge expense to set up a separate caucus, to be held after the primary, but none seemed willing to budge and make exceptions. "It's important that we establish the precedent" of a punishment, committee member Ralph Dawson, of New York, said during a break.