Florida was given until September 29th to move or change the way it holds its primary or lose all its delegates to the Democratic National Convention (and half its delegates to the Republican convention). The verdict is in and the state will make no accommodations.

This now puts the Democratic candidates in a tuff position. They have pledged not to campaign in states the violate the party rules, however Florida holding its primary so close to Iowa and just before the onslaught of states on February 5th holds a potential PR problem. Clinton is currently ahead in Florida polling and is likely to take major states on February 5th. She seems less likely at this moment to take Iowa and her opponents had hoped to capitalize on an Iowa and/or New Hampshire loss for fundraising and as a symbol that she can be taken down further along in the primary process. With that time shortened and with a win in such a heavy general election battleground state, even with no delegate representations it could remove any “steam” gained from an Iowa win.

Florida has now put the ball squarely in the court of the candidates unless the DNC accepts the new date and allows the state to send delegates.

Rudy Giuliani will speak to the National Rife Association to “clarify” his position on gun rights. He said of the meeting:

“There are certain agreements and disagreements with every single group,” noted Giuliani, talking about the event with reporters in Reston, Va. “When I go before the NRA, I’m going to try to emphasize areas I think in which there is a great deal of agreement. And as I have said many, many times, my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy.”

Giuliani has been under attack for his previous actions and positions on guns for which the former mayor hasn’t always been seen as a ‘80% friend’ by the NRA. As mayor and a federal prosecutor Giuliani enacted legislations that put restrictions on gun purchasing. His initiatives were seen as important steps in curbing violence in NYC but were vehemently opposed by the NRA.

Last week Mitt Romney made the following joke as reported by CNN:

Romney said his wife would make a “prettier first lady” than former president Bill Clinton.

Today Drudge has the following:

At NRA, Fred Thompson introduced wife and said: ‘She would make a much better first lady than Bill Clinton’… Crowd fell to pieces…. Developing…

One thing I have witnessed while running this site is that there are a lot of people “new” to politics and the election process looking for information online. I often hear from people who say that they have never followed things closely and they may be interested in starting. So with that thought in mind I figured it would be a GREAT TIME to offer some unsolicited advice about following elections. Advice I have offered before and will probably offer again and again every few months.

That advice? When a candidate for office promises you something, be skeptical. Be VERY skeptical! Put another way, don’t bank on actually getting all that fun new stuff they promise.

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- Elizabeth Edwards argued yesterday that Clinton’s Health Care proposal was a rip-off of her husbands. The greater question is, what is a rip-off of Mitt Romney’s? The former Gov. has been digging into Clinton over her proposal but independent analysis of his own plan for Massachusetts shows some striking similarities.

- An ad taken out by MoveOn.org against Gen. Patraeus was met with condemnation in the Senate yesterday. Clinton & Dodd voted against the measure while Barack Obama & Joe Biden abstained.

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