That according to Politico.

The ugly elbowing over which states will go first in the 2008 presidential primary process is due to explode into open warfare Saturday as the Democratic National Committee decides what to do about “rogue” states that are threatening to violate party rules.

The DNC’s powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in Washington to decide primarily what sanctions to take against Florida, where Democrats say they will conduct a primary on Jan. 29 in violation of party rules.

The Politico has learned, however, that a secret 9 a.m. “off the record” breakfast will precede the open meeting and the 30 sometimes contentious members of the rules commitee will try to achieve some kind of consensus.

“We will decide then whether to blow off Florida,” a rules committee member told me.

The sanctions possible seem a little bit like political suicide.

The DNC does have options. First, it could demand a boycott of rogue states by the presidential contenders.

“We will try to get the candidates not to campaign in those states,” a DNC member told me.

Florida is a major swing state. As you know, it decided to turnout of the ’00 election. Is the DNC just that positive that it will win the White House in ’08? Well, actually candidates would most likely defy the DNC.

Candidates might decide they would much rather risk offending the DNC than offending Floridians.

“Yes, candidates would still campaign in [rogue] states,” one rules committee member told me, “but it will change their calculation” on how much time to spend in such states.

So what is the DNC most likely to do? Strip Florida and other states of their delegates to the Democratic Convention.

The DNC could also strip the rogue states of 50 to 100 percent of their delegates to the nominating convention. The most likely option right now is to strip them of all delegates, at least two rules committee members told me.

“You are going to see big signs on the floor of the Democratic Convention that say ‘Florida’ and ‘Michigan’ and you are going to see rows of empty seats beneath them,” one DNC member warned.

Here’s the issue: Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has long wanted his state to have more influence in the nomination. Well, taking away their delegates, would most likely piss him off. Michigan is a popular battleground for Democrats, and by sanctioning Michigan (which the DNC intends to do), Dems could risk alienating fellow Dems. Therefore, it’d be likely the candidates would again ignore the sanction.

This election is going to get real old…real fast.