T-Paw think Iowa is just “ethanol freaks?” How about Huckabee, Palin, or the other Republicans? And which of the Republican Presidential candidates will be the first to demand Oliver apologize?

SP Times: GOP leader: Florida should not cave to ‘syrup farmers and ethanol freaks’ in N.H. and Iowa

Orange County Republican chairman Lew Oliver has taken the sledgehammer approach to the debate over Florida’s presidential primary.

“I would like to publicly applaud the Florida legislature for having the cajones once again to defy an RNC-endorsed/coerced national primary electoral “system” that gives wildly disproportionate influence in the selection of our nominee (and potentially our next president) to a collection of syrup farmers and ethanol freaks in New Hampshire and Iowa,” Oliver wrote in a letter to state committee members. (Letter first reported by our pal Gary Fineout.)

Last week, GOP leaders in South Carolina and Iowa criticized Florida’s insistence on holding an earlier primary and urged the RNC to pull the 2012 convention from Tampa if the state does not back down. More on that here.

Trying to seek middleground is Mark Cross, a state committeeman from Osceola. In a response to Oliver, he writes, “All we have to do is move to Saturday, March 3 and have a state convention and caucus and eliminate the primary.”

Cross continued, “With a state convention and caucus Florida RPOF can raise some extra cash. Florida ends up being fifth. We get all of our delegates. And as an extra bonus we get to save the taxpayers $40 million.”

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