Live Chat: Florida Republican Primary, January 31 at 7:30pm

January 31, 2011–As Florida's primary votes come in, the writers and political pundits of the Communities @WashingtonTimes.com will be watching and commenting while monitoring the returns of the 2012 Florida Republican primary.

Tonight's primary is a winner-take-all contest with fifty Electoral College delegates at stake. Florida lost 50 of their delegates when they moved the primary date prior to Tuesday, March 6th. Moving the the primary to an earlier date is seen as Florida attempting to gain influence on the Presidential nomination, ergo the penalty. 

Delegates for a state are determined by a number of factors, the top three being (thank you to Green Paper for this information): 

For Jurisdictions with Constitutionally Elected Members of Congress:

10 At-Large delegates from each state, that is, 5 at-large delegates for each U.S. Senator. 

3 District delegates for each U.S. Representative as established by the 2010 census [Rule 13(a)(3)].

For all Jurisdictions - 3 party leaders: the national committeeman, the national committeewoman, and the chairman of the state Republican Party.

Visit Green Paper to see a delegate number breakdown chart by state and that shows how the entire 2,429 at-large, district, party leader, president, governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Chamber delegates break down.

To be the Republican nominee, be it Mitt Romney, Newt Gringrich, Ron Paul, or Rick Santorum, the candidate must be the first to accumulate 1141 delegates. CNN estimates that Romney has earned 34 delegates; Gingrich 27; ten, and Santorum eight.  Florida’s 50 delegates equal about four percent of the total needed to win the nomination.

The Florida primary is a closed primary meaning that only registered Republican Party members may vote.

Florida represents about four percent of the votes needed to win the nomination – the most of any single state so far. Its winner-take-all status will give the victor a temporary lead over the other candidates, however states like Texas with 155 delegates and California with 172 are states where a candidate has the most to lose. Both California and Texas are proportional states; so one Candidate will not win all delegates, therefore it is even more important to win “big” in these states.

The Communities will open the chat around 7:30 EST so choose your favorite broadcast pundits, from CNN, Fox or MSNBC and fire up your computer and join us to discuss the results and candidate speeches as they come in.