The early primary has been less problematic for Florida Republicans. While they will lose delegates under national party rules, the penalties are less severe than with the Democrats.

Meanwhile, Florida party officials are talking about holding a non-binding presidential straw vote in October, a symbolic exercise that could cost presidential campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars if they aggressively try to organize a strong showing among Democratic activists.

They voted to hold off on a decision until later this summer, but Monroe County state committee member Pam Martin summed up the goal for holding one: "I want to be wooed."

The longtime secretary of state said he had yet to choose a date, but would do so by the fall. He has not ruled out the possibility of moving the date into late 2007 to keep New Hampshire first. "My standard line has been, it's not going to be out of the realm of possibility," he said.

The discussion yesterday evening came on the heels of the news that the Democratic Party in Florida decided to move forward with having its primary on Jan 29, in violation of national Democratic Party rules that Dean said he would still enforce.

"We've set our rules and we're going to enforce them and if state parties go around these rules, it will involve losing their delegates," said Damien LaVera, a national party spokesman, who added that the same applied to New Hampshire.