Saturday, July 22, 2006

DNC Sets Calendar

DNC Sets Calendar

National Journal:

NV's the Caucus state and SC's the primary state.

Iowa's caucus could be held on Monday, January 14th or Monday, January 21st. If the caucuses are held the 14th, Nevada caucuses on 1/19, New Hampshire holds its primary on 1/22 and South Carolina primaries on 1/29. The window for other states to hold their primaries would open 2/5.

If Iowa waits until the 21st, Nevada would meet on 1/26. New Hampshire would vote 1/29, while South Carolina would vote on Groundhog Day, 2/2. The window would still open 2/5.


Personally I prefer the 1/14 date for Iowa. I'd rather be later but having the caucus on MLK day causes hard feelings - a lot of African-American and civil rights groups plan MLK Day events - and logistical problems since public buildings that are caucus sites are often in semi-shut down mode.

Now we'll wait and see what NH does. I'll stick by my prediction: they leapfrog the calendar to January 8 or 15. It doesn't matter what NH or the DNC does. What matters is if the candidates show up for an outlaw primary. If they do, they'll be covered and NH wins. If they don't show up the DNC wins.

Aside: Organizing a caucus in NV should be interesting. Typically a caucus depends on getting out the longtime activists, and that could be tricky in the fastest growing, least rooted state in the country.

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