In a nutshell, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco went with a bi-partisan delegation to Cuba and got her state's farmers some much needed agricultural trade, in a move applauded by all.
But George W is mad as hell and has put both White House and State Dept (Rice says no rice, for Fidel), pressure on LA GOP to "condemn" the whole thing.
Much better write up of this with links, sources etc. at Institute for Southern Studies