Caucus Date: Nevada Back on Jan. 19

Caucus Date: Nevada Back on Jan. 19

Nevada blog My Silver State reports:

The Nevada Democratic Party says it will keep its spot in the national presidential nominating calendar and maintain its caucus on Jan. 19.

The decision not to move the caucus up a week came in conjunction with a decision by South Carolina Democrats to move their primary date only three days earlier to Jan. 26 to maintain their place in the process.

Nevada party chair Jill Derby says the decision keeps Nevada as "the first test of the Western vote, the Hispanic vote and the labor vote."

Derby also called on leadoff state Iowa and New Hampshire to preserve their order in the nominating calendar as set out by the national party.

Earlier reports had said Nevada was looking at Jan. 12.

In other developments the day after the Iowa GOP set Jan. 3 as its date:

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner repeated his oft-made statement to the Manchester Union-Leader that December is a possibility:

He would prefer to schedule the primary for early January, "but something might happen that may change the circumstances, and under those circumstances, if (holding the primary in December) is the best thing for us to do, it's the thing we'll have to do."

Is December overplaying New Hampshire's hand?  Roger Simon at The Politico argues that in that case, going second mght be best for Iowa:

The DNC forbids states from holding 2008 nominating contests in 2007 and could, therefore, declare New Hampshire a "rogue" state and strip it of its delegates to the nominating convention. This would leave Iowa as the first "legal" contest in the nation.

The national press grumbles.  MSNBC's First Take:

The fact that we're potentially inside of 80 days before voting begins and the candidates don't know EXACTLY when the various election days are seems beyond ridiculous.  Imagine if Major League Baseball -- as of right now -- had not yet decided whether the World Series would be a best-of-seven or a best-of-nine series. It's that bizarre in this thing we call our presidential nominating process.

And Dan Balz at the Washington Post:

The reality is that voters in Iowa and New Hampshire have earned their privileged position by their seriousness and diligence in screening the candidates. In no other state is this tradition so richly embedded.

But both states have become extraordinarily demanding in this cycle. They led the effort to force Democratic candidates to pledge not to campaign in Michigan and Florida -- two renegade states whose moves to schedule their primaries in January have helped to trigger the current mess. Their expectations for candidate time and respect seem almost without limit.

Balz does offer brief praise to Gov. Chet Culver for his "no December" statement.

Almost as soon as the Republican State Central Committee voted Tuesday night, David Yepsen was on line with another post calling for Republicans and Democrats to caucus on separate dates.