Florida delegation gets super seats, lousy hotel rooms....not much griping.

After being slapped by the national party and shunned by the presidential candidates, they and their 27 electoral votes are now the belles of the ball. National party leaders voted unanimously on Sunday to restore the 211-member Florida delegation's full voting authority, which had been stripped away entirely and later cut in half as punishment for Florida's violation of the official primary schedule. What's more, the Barack Obama campaign paid Florida the ultimate homage by giving the delegation front-row convention seats at the Pepsi Center.

Florida's delegation is split among three hotels featuring views of warehouses, Interstate 70, and an occasional shuttered strip joint. Amid the grumbling and confusion about having to find shuttles or pay for taxis to get anywhere near the convention spectacle, though, most Florida Democrats spoke with relief that their long primary nightmare is finally coming to a close.

"When you get spanked, you feel it,'' said former Hillsborough Democratic chairwoman Lynn Marvin. "But it's all good now."

The tough journey to this point started nearly 18 months ago when Democratic and Republican state lawmakers decided to move Florida's primary from March into January to give Florida more influence in the presidential nomination. The national party, trying to keep order and geographic and ethnic diversity, had decreed that only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina could hold primaries before Feb. 5.

Most Florida Democrats have long since moved on from the anger and anguish over Florida's officially meaningless primary. Republican John McCain needs Florida's 27 electoral votes to win the White House and with polls showing a neck-and-neck race, Obama has made up for lost time by showering Florida with love.

Dean stands by his decision. “Folks have been pushing around the Rules Committee and the DNC for a long time and we finally just said no, we’re not doing it anymore, and these are the consequences and we’re sticking to them,” he said. “And I think somebody had to do that.”

Floor seats notwithstanding, the hotel situation is not lost on the delegates.

“It doesn't really get more punishing than three hotels by the railroad tracks,” quipped Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a delegate and member of Congress representing parts of Broward and Dade counties.