(CNN) -- A Republican-appointed commission in Florida could turn the 2012 GOP presidential nominating calendar topsy-turvy Friday if it goes ahead with plans to shift the state's primary to January 31. The move would flout Republican National Committee rules that forbid any state -- other than the first four early voting states -- from holding a contest before March 6, likely sparking a chain reaction as those states move their contests into January to protect their roles in the process. Florida's representatives on the RNC approved the current calendar rules at a meeting last year. But top Florida Republicans have since demanded that their state go fifth in the 2012 process, after the first four "carve out" states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
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Florida aims to move primary date to January 31
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Traditional early states would then be forced to leapfrog their dates into early January
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Republican leadership could penalize Florida by limiting delegates seated at convention
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States must submit their primary and caucuses to the Republican National Committee by Saturday
Connelly said he would wait until after Florida finalizes its primary date before naming @placeholder's date.