Florida's winner-take-all primary could kill Rubio's chances

"There's no question that the decisions that were made were made to benefit the two main Florida sons — Bush and Rubio," said Joe Gruters, vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida and co-chair of Trump's Florida campaign.

[...] Florida was faced with losing all its delegates if it broke national party rules again, and in 2013 the Legislature moved the primary date to the first Tuesday in March.

Last year, as Rubio and Bush were preparing to run, the Legislature voted to move the date again to make the contest winner-take-all, which the state GOP approved after Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill into law.

"The Republican women had looked at trying to do the delegates by congressional district, and we were just told there wasn't even a starter on that conversation," said Cynthia Henderson, the group's past president.

Yet again, Republican legislative chicanery has backfired to their very public embarrassment, said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Max Steele.