Yes, the Florida Republicans will be staying at Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor. That's about 30 miles from downtown Tampa, where the main RNC events will be going on. But there may be bigger concerns for the Florida GOP when it comes to how the state will play on the national stage come August.
University of South Florida Political Scientist Dr. Susan MacManus says in Denver Democrats faced a similar fate. "In both instances, the parties went early and out of turn and the national party punished them for it. Some would say that Innisbrook's not so bad, however."
Florida is in the doghouse for violating GOP party rules and pushing up its Presidential Preference primary to January 31st.
But MacManus says there are bigger issues for the GOP and Florida Republicans to tackle before the convention. She says there are three things Florida Republicans would like to see at the RNC:
- A full restoration of the whole delegation.
- If they can't all be voting delegates, let them all be seated.
- A premier spot on the convention floor.
MacManus says, "Any of those three would be better than what they're fearing they're going to get from going early in the election cycle. But it would be extremely embarrassing in some ways for the host state to have bad seats and you know limited delegation when our state is considered to be one of the top two swing states in this general election."
The Republican National Convention comes to Florida in late August.
