Speaking with ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus indicated there would be no forgiveness for Florida’s 2012 leap-frog that tossed the calendar set by the national political parties into chaos.

“There is no discretion. There is no coming back. There is no kumbaya that’s going to happen in two months. The nominee isn’t going to be able to do a thing about it,” Priebus said.

“They’re going to lose half of their delegates and that’s a pretty serious penalty.”

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the loss of delegates is something state officials have already taken into consideration, noting that 50 of the state’s 99 delegates will be allotted as a part of a winner-take-all contest.

As Iowans involved in previous calendar squabbles can well attest, the intention of the national political party might be to penalize the states who violate calendar rules, but the final decision has typically been left in the hands of the presidential nominee — a person that doesn’t typically want to alienate any delegates from any state. In an effort to remove that conflict for the nominee — and to prevent state’s from circumventing the consequences of their actions — Preibus said that Florida will only have 50 delegates; that’s all that will be elected.

“They are not going to be able to recreate their delegate strength,” he added.

Similar penalties will also be applied to the other primary states that moved their dates forward.

“The penalty is there. The penalty is going to stick. That’s all there is to it,” he concluded.

Officials from the four states sanctioned to begin the nominating process — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — have pledged they will move forward as one to protect their status.

Although Florida had planned to move forward in an attempt to thwart Missouri from holding an earlier contest, Mizzou Republicans decided Thursday to switch to a caucus system that allowed them to remain within the national calendar boundaries.

And, not everyone in the Florida GOP is celebrating the move. Politico’s Reid Epstein reports Paul Senft, one of three from the state on the Republican National Committee, emailed a message of sorrow to early state officials.

Sharon and I are embarrassed and do apologize. Chairman Bitner had a compromise worked out, but it disappeared when he passed away. … I will vote for and support the penalties because we deserve them because of what the legislators are doing. Please tell your folks that we have tried.”

As Epstein notes, David Bitner died earlier this month following health battles.

Chad Connelly, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, nearly immediately issued a statement, which noted in part, that the disappointing move could have been avoided.

“Rogue states have once again dictated the Presidential nominating calendar,” he said. “I call on my fellow RNC members and all Republicans to strongly condemn Florida’s decision to hold their primary on January 31.

“States who have worked so hard to maintain the nominating calendar should not be penalized and the offenders, including Florida, should lose their entire allocations of delegates at the National Convention. Rules matter and the four traditional early states … did everything they could to avoid this unfortunate situation.”

He closed by saying that South Carolina’s primary date will not be announced today. The deadline for state parties to have their intentions to the RNC is Oct. 1.

Although there has not yet been an immediate, formal reaction from Iowa officials, there is little doubt that one will be forthcoming.

“Having Iowa lead off the nominating process provides Americans with a unique opportunity to learn more about the candidates and their views,” said Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, speaking with the group at a National Speakers Conference.

“The living room settings and retail political climate Presidential hopefuls must navigate in Iowa brings out the honesty and authenticity in each individual seeking the office of President. I continue to support the RNC’s calendar of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.”

Although calendars set by the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee have slated the Iowa caucuses to lead off the nomination process on Feb. 6, the New Hampshire primary to follow eight days later, and the Nevada caucus and South Carolina primary to serve as the third and fourth contests to close out February, both Florida and Michigan are considering moving their primaries forward and disrupting the calendar.

Political parties have threatened those states that jump ahead with loss of national delegates if they elect to hold contests before March 6. In addition, earlier this year, Iowa joined with South Carolina in calling for the Republican National Convention to be moved from Florida if the state refused to abide by calendar rules.

“New Hampshire remains 100 percent committed to standing shoulder to shoulder with Iowa and South Carolina to ensure that the traditional primary process is preserved and strengthened. The Granite State has shown time and again that we have the right people to decide who should lead the nation. Other states have tried to leapfrog the current calendar and move ahead of us, but none have shown that they have what it takes to do a thorough job of vetting presidential candidates like we do in local, retail setting,” said New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien.

South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell added, “As the stakes continue to rise nationally, it has never been more important that Republicans stand united and select a Presidential nominee who will lead our nation back to economic recovery and prosperity. South Carolina has solidified it’s place as a conservative proving ground for presidential contenders, and our conservative voters are once again dedicated to picking our Party’s nominee. We will continue to play a pivotal role in that process with our ‘First in the South’ Presidential Primary, and I stand strong with my Republican counterparts from Iowa and New Hampshire in support of the RNC’s approved presidential nominating calendar.”

Leading the Hawkeye State effort as state director will be Matt Gronewald, a former deputy executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa and a long-time strategist for the GOP.

Robert Haus will serve as Iowa chairman, and his wife, Ruth Haus, will be a senior consultant.

Robert is also a long-time fixture of GOP politics in Iowa, serving in leadership roles for the presidential campaigns of Sen. Phil Gramm and Steve Forbes. He works as a vice president for Des Moines-based PolicyWorks LLC, and previously co-owned (with his wife) Eagle Media Group.

Ruth moved to Iowa in 2002, after spending 18 years in Washington, D.C., where she served as vice president of corporate communications for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She was involved with Forbes’ 2000 presidential bid as deputy campaign manager and chief operations officer, has been a deputy executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and deputy political director of the Republican National Committee. After serving as a campaign staffer for George W. Bush in 1998, she was given a position in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

In a recent Washington Update, Perkins warns that “activists are already plotting to overthrow the Republicans’ pro-life, pro-family platform. … Homosexual groups like GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans are hoping to elbow their way into the conversation, but they’ll meet strong resistance from the solid conservatives that have historically dominated the platform process.”

Gay GOP groups’ essential strategy, as reported by the Washington Blade, is to try to make the party’s 2012 party platform more LGBT-friendly than 2008′s platform, which denounced same-sex marriage as well as statues against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in areas such as employment and adoption.

“Log Cabin Republicans plan to actively participate in the process to revise the party’s platform,” Log Cabin Republicans Deputy Executive Director Christian Berle told the Blade. “We recognize there will be a lot of work to be done to strengthen the importance of reaching out to LGBT Americans as a part of strengthening the party.”

Despite Perkins’ insistence that such efforts should be tamped down, he disputes the idea that there is a gay constituency in the Republican Party, stating, “Although Gov. Jon Huntsman is the only candidate with a pro-gay agenda, [GOProud board chair Christopher] Barron says he’s ‘confident’ that this almost non-existent constituency is ‘going to have a nominee that gay conservatives can work with.’” (Perkins ignores the fact that openly gay Republican candidate Fred Karger is still in the race and but has been fighting for recognition from his own party.)

Last month, GOProud was uninvited to next year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) “for pushing this same divisive agenda,” says Perkins. However, as a boost to their credibility within the Republican Party, GOProud recently acquired conservative commentator Ann Coulter as the new “honorary chair” of their advisory council.

Perkins’ major concerns with LCR and GOProud appears to stem from a concern that the Republican Party might bend a little on LGBT issues, but it’s the 2012 Democratic Party platform (which he says is also “under attack” by LGBT lobby groups) he fears more.

Homosexuals are already leaning on Democrats to step up their support for the LGBT cause when the Left convenes in Charlotte more than 13 months from now. In 2008, delegates made it clear that this is not your grandparents’ Democratic party. For the first time in history, the Left’s planks called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Now, homosexuals want more. They want “marriage.”

But FRC’s lobbying arm, FRC Action, and new Super Political Action Committee, Faith Family Freedom Fund, are prepared to push back on LGBT agendas from both parties.

“As always, the FRC Action team will be on hand in Florida, fighting for the values and priorities of America’s families,” Perkins said. “We’ll make sure the conservative base has a solid platform to stand on.”

“I will not be a candidate for president next year,” Barbour said in a statement. “This has been a difficult, personal decision, and I am very grateful to my family for their total support of my going forward, had that been what I decided.”

Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and part of the Reagan administration, was considered an establishment candidate with a proven ability to raise the funds necessary to compete nationally, but without the fiery rhetoric that has most often generated national headlines for the GOP.

“A candidate for president today is embracing a ten-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else. His (or her) supporters expect and deserve no less than absolute fire in the belly from their candidate. I cannot offer that with certainty, and total certainty is required,” Barbour said.

He added that his intention is to remain as governor and to work with the Republican Governors Association. He believes the country must elect a Republican to the White House in 2012 because “the stakes for the nation require that effort to be successful.”

“Hundreds of people have encouraged me to run and offered both to give and raise money for a presidential campaign. Many volunteers have organized events in support of my pursuing the race. Some have dedicated virtually full time to setting up preliminary organizations in critical, early states and to helping plan what has been several months of intensive activity,” he stated.“ I greatly appreciate each and every one of them and all their outstanding efforts. If I have disappointed any of them in this decision, I sincerely regret it.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty praised Barbour, saying in his own statement that “nobody has done more than Haley to build the Republican Party over the last three decades, including last year, when I had the privilege to be his vice chairman at the Republican Governors Association.”

Barbour had visited Iowa, but had yet to make any major inroads in the state. His decision not to seek the GOP nomination does little to change the lay of the land in the Hawkeye State.

Despite the fact Harvey avoided a judgment by paying off the note in 2009, the documents are being dished to Denver media outlets in an attempt to hammer another nail in the Highlands Ranch mortgage broker’s reputation that might be marred by a $19,000 unpaid debt from his failed 6th Congressional District bid in 2008

“I have no judgments against me and I have a perfect credit score,” declared Harvey. “Make sure you print that or I’ll sue you.”

He said it’s incredible that anyone would bother to uncover and circulate the court documents because he’d paid the note and avoided the judgment.

According to the document shopper, who claimed to have investigated Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes last year for the RNC, the party bosses are concerned not only about the financial viability of the state GOP, but also the tone of the next party chairman – particularly as the 2012 presidential election looms.

The choice could unite or rip the party apart – creating divisions that could take years to heal.

“I am excited about uniting our party and I’m focused on beating the Democrats in 2012,” said Harvey of his campaign for state GOP chair.

Harvey admitted financial struggles in a tough climate for real estate agents, mortgage brokers and construction industry members since the financial meltdown in October 2008. He felt the chill winds blowing in 2005.

According to Douglas County District Court records, J. P. Morgan Chase Bank sought a judgment against the mortgage broker and his company, Metro Funding Corp. (also known as Metro Fund, LLC) for failing to pay a $50,000 Promissory Note dated Nov. 7, 2005, of which $49,000 was renewed on May 24, 2006. Chase filed legal action in March 2009, and it was satisfied within eight months.

“I personally paid it,” said Harvey, who was president of Metro Funding Corp., which went under in the economic downturn.

Harvey’s mortgage broker license expired in December – but the senator said that he doesn’t work during the legislative session because there is limited time to devote to clients. He’s also switching careers.

“I will no longer be a mortgage broker. I plan to work for a mortgage bank. Because of all the changes in regulations, it’s very hard to be a mortgage broker,” said Harvey, a broker for American Home Funding that is in the process of becoming a lender.

Mortgage brokers work with various lenders to arrange mortgage financing for clients. Lenders fund mortgages directly.

Harvey said there are too many regulations on the mortgage broker industry – and he personally does not want to pay for federal and state requirements of licensing, testing and taking courses each year.

Wadhams, among others, have questioned Harvey’s ability to raise money for the state GOP and mused that the state senator is motivated by the party chairman’s nearly $150,000 annual salary.

“I don’t think Ted Harvey has the foggiest idea of how to raise money,” said Wadhams, who vowed to expose “the little creep.”

Harvey laughed. He is not only undaunted by those slash-and-burn comments, the senator says he welcomes the fiery exchanges because he is running against the legacy of Wadhams, who declined to seek a third two-year term.

“I’ve picked up more supporters because of Dick’s tirade,” chuckled Harvey, who had dropped by the redistricting public meeting before appearing at a state party chair candidates’ forum in Pueblo last weekend.

“My goal is to raise money big time,” declared Harvey, echoing stump speeches that liberally criticize Wadhams for mishandling party finances and dribbling $500 or less to individual Republican candidates last year.

“We need a proven conservative to reach out to energized, passionate Tea Party folks,” said Harvey, who described himself as establishment and anti-establishment. “We need a targeted message – a passionate, conservative message – to raise money.”

“If Ted Harvey is an effective fund raiser, why doesn’t he pay off his $19,000 campaign debt from 2008?” sniped Wadhams. “He needs to sober up and realize the facts.”

Wadhams facts include correcting Harvey’s contention that the Republican National Committee bailed the state party out of a $600,000 debt. After winning the state GOP chair in 2007, Wadhams said he had the party books audited, discovered the awesome red ink and turned it black through his own fundraising efforts. The RNC money went strictly to the Victory (get out the vote) efforts in 2008 and 2010 that benefited all Republican candidates in the general elections.

Harvey raised $202,051 in his race for the 6th Congressional District seat and came in third behind Representative Mike Coffman and candidate Wil Armstrong, son of former Republican Senator Bill Armstrong.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Harvey loaned his campaign $12,000, but left a $19,000 debt unpaid to his campaign manager Jon Hotaling, whose take-no-prisoners style had delivered Representative Doug Lamborn in the contentious 5th District primary in 2006. Lamborn, who was hobnobbing with Hotaling at the El Paso County GOP Central Committee meeting on Feb. 12, has endorsed Harvey for state party chair.

Harvey, who served three two-year terms in the State House, won election to the State Senate in 2006. In the first leg of his four-year term, Harvey initiated his bid for the 6th Congressional seat retired by Representative Tom Tancredo.

Harvey filed a statement of organization with the FEC on Nov. 30, 2007. Yet, questions also surfaced recently about why the candidate also registered a nonprofit corporation – “Ted Harvey for Congress” – with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office in February 2008.

The Ted Harvey for Congress nonprofit corporation didn’t declare its purpose and financial records are not required by Colorado.

Attached to the corporation filing was a dissolution decree that simply stated, “Upon dissolution all assets will go to W. Ted Harvey.”

Attorney Glenn Hagen, who was Harvey’s congressional campaign treasurer, said, “I have no idea why that account was opened … I have to say ‘no comment’ to all of your questions.”

“It was set up to process payroll taxes,” said Hotaling. The funds, he said, were reported on Harvey’s FEC reports as expenditures paid to CFO Today, an accounting firm in Highlands Ranch.

Hotaling said that CFO Today would not comment or verify how the funds were transferred through the Harvey for Congress nonprofit corporation to the accounting firm because that information is confidential. He also did not know if any money was still in the account when it was dissolved.

Colorado Springs accountant Eileen Warnock, treasurer for former 5th District Congressman Joel Hefley’s campaigns, said it was unnecessary to create a state-based nonprofit corporation for payroll taxes.

“We paid all payroll taxes – federal and state – through the account registered with the FEC,” said Warnock. “I can’t think of any reason for establishing a nonprofit organization at the state level for a federal campaign.”

Here is a letter Harvery wrote the FEC related to what he says are errors in FEC reports.

In the field of party chair contenders, Wadhams said he prefers state GOP Vice Chairman Leondray Gholston or state party legal counsel Ryan Call over Harvey, newcomer Bart Baron and Matt Arnold, director of the failed Clear the Bench campaign to purge liberal judges.

The winner of the March 26 race must receive 50 percent plus one of the votes cast by the state GOP Central Committee. Several Republican members have predicted that the runoff will pit Harvey against Call.

The site has no author, and it isn’t immediately clear who created it; however, a domain name lookup shows that the domain was registered Friday. The opposition research site — run-of-the-mill for general elections but somewhat odd for a closed election for party chairman — claims that Anuzis managed the ’06 and ’08 elections badly, is liberal on social issues and immigration, among other attacks.

Anuzis won the endorsement of Redstate blogger Erick Erickson, who — contrary to the claims of the site — praised his work “when the odds were against him” in Michigan. Yet Anuzis has his critics: Ben Smith of Politico reported on a letter that Debbie Joslin, an RNC member from Alaska, sent out to the other RNC members over Anuzis’ alleged support of a “National Popular Vote” system.

Though Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Priebus is considered the frontrunner, the opacity of the race and multiple rounds of voting make it effectively wide open. The 168 members of the RNC will vote Friday.

Instead, the debate hosted by Tucker Carlson and Grover Norquist at the National Press Club in Washington resembled a job interview. Candidates listed what “skills” they have for the position, how their past experiences would help them lead the RNC and how they would do the job (all interspersed with the occasional awkward joke). Their interlocutors repeatedly asked them to answer questions “specifically,” which they generally did not.

Though Norquist reminded the audience that there was “no job description,” being a party chair is really about one thing — raising money. The candidates all said how they could raise money to defeat President Obama in 2012. Priebus said he would spend “five or six” hours on the phone everyday with major donors, saying that the RNC needed to raise $400 million to defeat the president. “It’s all about fundraising,” said Anuzis in his opening.

“We don’t do policy, we do politics,” said Chairman Steele. “You don’t get to dictate the terms of policy to the (House) speaker, or the minority leader. If you get it wrong, You’ll be reminded, ‘you don’t do policy,’” he ended, drawing the loudest applause from the crowd for the chairman,

Steele, the center of debate, knows whereof he speaks. Soon after he was elected as RNC chairman, he said — in comments that were anathema to most Republicans — that abortion was an “individual choice” to be decided by the states in a May 2009 interview with GQ. In the debate, Steele — who is often animated on cable news shows — appeared subdued. According to a Politico report this morning, Steele does not have the votes from the 168-member RNC to stay on for a second term.

In the one exception to the lack of debate in the debate, Steele defended his record as RNC chairman when Wagner attacked his lack of funding for GOTV operations along the lines of a memo by former Steele aide — and former RNC candidate himself before dropping out — Gentry Collins. “We didn’t have 72-hour program — we had a 12-month program. We won 64 house seats, 21 state legislatures flipped.” He maintained that the program was done differently. “We won in all fifty states this year. And that’s the goal, winning. Find me a state that didn’t have a winning election.”

Despite the Republicans’ success in the midterm elections, the RNC is $15 million in debt; reports indicate that it has already spent lavishly for its 2012 convention in Tampa; and it has had to delay payment to convention vendors. Steele meekly suggested at the outset that the debt might be “refinanced” and the party would have to “hunker down, get the money right, get the dollars right.”

The race for RNC chair is of course, not an open election — 168 members choose the chairman in a race that often has multiple ballots — but Priebus appears to be the front-runner, according to vote counts. He also acted like it. He repeatedly spoke of the need to work with the conservative movement and the tea party. He also talked like a tea partier, sounding the alarm of American decline. “We are about to fall off a fiscal cliff,” he said in his opening. “We need to save our country, and in turn to save our party, and take back the White House,” he said, often repeating the need to “save our country” more than any other candidate.

Priebus also had huge success in normally-blue Wisconsin in 2010. Plastics magnate Ron Johnson won his first election, defeating Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold by painting him as a Washington insider. Longtime House Appropriations Chair David Obey (D-Wisc.) retired and his seat was taken by Republican Sean Duffy, who was previously a cast member on MTV’s “The Real World.” Wisconsin’s Republicans took over the governorship, both legislatures and picked up an additional U.S. House seat.

Ultimately, the RNC chairmanship race is shaping up a lot like the Republican narrative of the 2010 elections — Priebus, talking the language of the tea party, looks poised to defeat the fiscally-irresponsible incumbent Michael Steele on January 14.

Gentry Collins, one of the first candidates to publicly challenge current chairman Michael Steele, has ended his campaign to claim his former boss’ position. Collins — a former Iowa GOP operative — made a splash with his entrance in the race, as he had served the RNC as political director during Steele’s term leading the party. Before he declared himself a candidate, Collins resigned from his RNC position with a scathing letter attacking Steele’s tenure leading the GOP. But since entering the field, Collins has struggled to gain support from RNC delegates, with only three members having publicly pledged their support to him before he ended his bid.

Though Steele now has one fewer opponent, his path to reelection appears to have closed. Politico approached the RNC delegates and found that over half intend to oppose Steele when the GOP votes on Jan. 14.

A weeklong canvass of the party’s governing board by POLITICO revealed 88 members who have decided not to vote for Steele, either opting to support one of his opponents or simply ruling out Steele as a choice in the race.

With 165 voting members, a candidate needs to claim support from at least 85 delegates to claim the RNC chair position, a number that now appears completely out of Steele’s grasp. Only 15 RNC members have said that they intend to vote for the current chairman.

So if not Steele, who is likely to claim the chairmanship? Former Wisconsin Republican Chairman Reince Priebus is the apparent leader in the race for the moment, with 30 delegates already publicly pledging their support. But since the RNC chairman is chosen through multiple rounds of balloting until one candidate secures half the votes, the battle to win the election may hinge more on which candidate positions him or herself as the second choice of the most delegates. However, the other candidates do have a significant amount of ground to make up if they are to equal Priebus’ level of support. Former RNC Co-Chair Ann Wagner currently sits as the second-place challenger to the incumbent, with 12 public supporters, followed by former Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis with 10 backers and Maria Cino with only six supporters.

The candidates will meet in Washington, D.C., Monday in a debate moderated by Grover Norquist and Tucker Carlson.