Republican Party officials from the traditional primary states decry Florida’s expected move of their primary from early March to late January, but significant money may be at stake for the state that secures the earlier primary date.

How much money does an early presidential primary generate? “I’ve heard anything from $20 to $80 million [each election year],” said a GOP strategist from South Carolina. “I think the $80 million figure came from 2008 when we had both a Democrat and Republican convention, Democratic and Republican primary in South Carolina and significant amounts of money . . . spent by the campaigns, money spent by the media, money spent by the media throwing debates, money being spent by outside interest groups.”