Presidential voting — before Christmas?

August 8, 2007

As of today, the New Hampshire primary is scheduled for Jan. 22, eight days after the Iowa caucuses. South Carolina’s primary is supposed to take place 10 days later, on Feb. 2.

But with Florida officials ignoring the national parties, the calendar is about to get ridiculous.

South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson will join with New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner tomorrow morning to announce that both states are moving up their presidential primary dates earlier into January, according to a prominent South Carolina Republican who spoke with Dawson this week. That likely will force Iowa — always protective of its party caucuses as the first-in-the-nation nominating contests — to make good on its vow to move their date from next Jan. 14 into pre-Christmas December. […]

Dawson told his fellow Republican that South Carolina’s would be at least 10 days before Florida’s Jan. 29 primaries, but not on the same day as Nevada’s caucuses, which are Jan. 19, and 12 days after New Hampshire’s primary.

That suggests New Hampshire will be moving into the first week of January. Iowa would then be certain to move up from Jan. 14. To avoid getting caught in the holiday period, Iowans have said the caucuses would have to be in mid-December.

Voting for the 2008 presidential nominees before Christmas 2007. If ever there was a system in need of an overhaul, this is it.

Rudolf the Red Nosed NeoCon, had a very shiny nose…

  • Holy Mother of God – what is wrong with these people? Pre-Christmas, 2007? This is just ridiculous. At this rate, the first primary for 2012 will be held before the November, 2008 election.

    I know – let’s just put them on a national primary ballot in February, have a run-off between top 2 in each party in a nationwide ballot next August and just cancel the conventions.

  • The candidates themselves need to step up and call a stop to the Primary/Caucus Arms Race. There is a very pragmatic problem with this – several, actually.

    First, imagine you are taking a semester-long class with a single final exam for all of your grade, or preparing to run your first marathon on a known date. How you time your preparation, you planning is all geared to this known date – and if it suddenly moves forward by a month (and who knows if the primary nonsense will stop there – there may be a sudden national primary next week for all I know). Everyone is thrown off – off budget, off of debate plans, travel plans, etc.

    For the candidates, this is bad enough. But the bigger (even if less visible) concern is for the parties and elections offices. They, too, have a planning and preparation cycle. Think the last several elections have been a scandalous mess? Give the elections officials a moving target and constantly decreasing prep time and see how things go.

    Second, assuming anyone stays in the public finance system at all which may be wishful thinking, you essentially have the nomination process over. . . and you can’t legally spend general election money. Even for those opting out, the individual donor max limits will clamp down until the post-convention period, meaning 8 months with little new money. In 04 this ended up being a serious issue for Kerry versus Bush as to the timing of the conventions.

    The national parties need to have the spine to issue 3 quick rules and make them stick: (1) by Sept 1, everyone declares a date and there will be no movement after that, period, so everyone has predictability; (2) we promise to look at systemic reform after 2008, but for this cycle Iowa and NH go first because the candidates have predicated things on that assumption, and I believe NH has a state law that requires it – so they have to keep moving until the issue is addressed more globally and with more lead time; (3) No delegates selected by a process that takes place in 2007 gets seated at the 2008 convention – there will not be any caucuses or primaries until after Jan 1.

  • “and I believe NH has a state law that requires it”

    that part doesn’t make any difference. florida could pass a state law requiring them to be first. otherwise, good post.

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