Last year Florida moved its primary up in violation of D.N.C rules and as such was stripped of its delegates. As part of the backlash the democratic candidates promised not to campaign in the state directly. (Meaning the candidates themselves or running ads etc.) However as part of a national media buy the Obama campaign is now running advertising in the state and the Clinton camp released the following statement:

The Obama campaign today began airing paid television advertisements in a national cable buy that include advertising in the state of Florida. There is no question that these ads are a clear and blatant violation of the early-state pledge that Senator Obama and the other leading Democratic candidates signed last year.

The early state pledge was crystal clear in its prohibition against any kind of campaign activity (outside of fundraising) in states that do not adhere to the DNC calendar. There is no ambiguity. Among the list of prohibited activities are “electronic advertising that reaches a significant percentage of the voters in the aforementioned state.” (According to Nielsen, there are 6,6 million TV households in Florida that receive CNN through either local cable systems or satellite dishes. This represents 92% of all Florida TV households.) The Obama campaign knows this, but has chosen to violate the pledge regardless.

Just last week the Obama campaign snubbed the people of Florida in a memo that stated that Florida did not matter in the nominating process. After consecutive losses in New Hampshire, Michigan and Nevada, they appear to be changing course.
Senator Obama’s flagrant disregard for the pledge that he signed is disturbing and calls the integrity of the pledge into question.

The Obama camp said it would be impossible to buy national ad time and exclude Florida.

“Both national cable networks told us it would be impossible for us to run advertising nationally that excluded only Florida. For that reason we consulted with the South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler who told us unequivocally she did not consider this to be in violation of pledge made to the early states,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

Obama himself claimed “The DNC has consistently said that we have not broken that pledge”. ABC News reports that the DNC made no such claim and since the pledge was made to state party leaders has remained silent on the vow from candidates to skip the state.

Clinton support Gov. Tom Vilsack said

“It raises the issue of what other pledges and promises he’s making to Democrats across the country that he doesn’t plan to keep.”

Meanwhile the fight over Florida actually began last week when the Obama campaign charged that the Clinton camp was showing “signs . . . that she may be planning to campaign in the state, inquiring about large venues and increased organizing activity.”