The DNC formally penalized Florida for moving its primary to January 29 according to The Washington Post.

We just wanted to pull out some key words from the story.

The Democratic National Committee sought to seize control of its unraveling nominating process

“Rules are rules,” said DNC member Garry S. Shays, of California, at the meeting. “California abided by them, and Florida should, as well. To ignore them would open the door to chaos.”

“I think this whole system is goofy. It’s all out of kilter,” [Harold] Ickes said.

There’s a trend here. We need a comprehensive, national solution to America’s primaries problem.

Other posts by Laura Kirshner

• Shift of fewer than 400,000 votes could have swung the election in McCain’s favor - November 5th, 2008
• 1 in 14 chance that the Electoral College winner will lose the National Popular Vote - September 8th, 2008
• Bi-partisan Panel Signs Joint Resolution for 2012 Primary Reform - August 21st, 2008
• Pushing back the Primaries: Don Means leads the National Caucus for 2012 Reform - August 1st, 2008
• Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: “Only winning the swing states matters” - July 8th, 2008
• The potential for women in the Senate - June 5th, 2008
• Ickes: System is "out of kilter" - August 27th, 2007
• Fix The Primaries in Miami Herald's Opinion Pages - August 15th, 2007
• California still left out of the campaign spotlight - July 30th, 2007
• The Shrinking Battleground: It's Smaller Than You Think - July 23rd, 2007