Now that our long-predicted early date for the Florida presidential primary has materialized, the question becomes whether Howard Dean will take the bait.

As I've been reporting for months -- usually to deaf ears -- the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature very cleverly chose to move the Florida primary to January 29.

This has brought threats of penalties against presidential candidates if they campaign in Florida to win the primary races there.

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), has joined many top officials of that party in making it clear that delegates for the national nominating convention may not be selected by the votes in the January 29 Florida Democratic primary.

In making these pronouncements, Dean and the DNC are on the precipice of falling into one of the most cleverly devised political traps in recent years.

Florida Republicans are privately ecstatic over the response to the new primary date by Dean and the Democratic rule-makers.

If the national Democrats hold their ground, they will reduce the Democratic primary in Florida to a meaningless exercise, while the Republican winner will most likely receive most or all of the delegates apportioned by the GOP for Florida.

How is this a trick? The Republicans know the DNC is governed by extremely hard-nosed and inflexible leaders who have managed to botch numerous presidential campaigns in recent years. Knowing that Dean likely will attempt to make a January 29 Democratic primary meaningless, Republicans recognized the opportunity to be the only game in town.

Why does it matter for the GOP to be the only political party that has a meaningful Florida primary? One big reason is that independent voters have been the swing vote and have decided just about every Florida presidential general election in recent memory.

A poll conducted this past week by InsiderAdvantage revealed that independent voters are disapproving of President Bush in higher and higher numbers, and with more and more virulence.

How does a party whose national profile is reeling from a loss of independent voters hope to win back those independents in Florida, the biggest state still up for grabs in the presidential election? Continued...