The Democratic National Committee's decision to revamp the presidential primary process for 2008 has thrown the entire political system into chaos as state's jockey to make their primaries relevant.
It has even caused a rift between New Hampshire and its traditional political partner, Iowa, because the laws of each state set time requirements for their contests.
The DesMoines (Iowa) Register reported that Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he wants to gather legislative and political leaders from both parties in Iowa to make plans to protect the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses. At issue is the possibility that - late this fall - New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner will move the date of that state's primary and leave Iowans scrambling to set a new date for our caucuses.
Iowa law requires the caucuses be held eight days earlier than any other caucus or primary. Since the Legislature isn't in session in the fall, if law changes are needed, they need to be made now. (They're also needed to send a signal to New Hampshire and all other states that Iowa won't be easily rolled.)
The 2008 Iowa caucuses are tentatively scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14. The Nevada caucuses are scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 19, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Jan. 22.
But New Hampshire officials are peeved at Democrats for scheduling the Nevada caucuses ahead of their event. The Granite Staters fear it will diminish the importance of their primary. Gardner has wide authority to change the date of the primary to protect that luster and has done so in the past.
New Hampshire state law requires that its primary be held a week and a day before any similar contest. There is no indication yet whether Gardner considers Nevada's caucuses a similar contest.
But if he does, he might try moving New Hampshire's event up one week, in which case both Nevada and Iowa could move as well. But Iowa's governor is concerned that Gardner could try to leapfrog both Nevada and Iowa.
If that happens, Iowa could be forced to move its caucuses into 2007.
And with all this jockeying around and more states scheduling early primaries, the 2008 primary season could essentially be over by March and we will all have to listen to the largely meaningless rhetoric of two candidates (three if Joe Lieberman decides to run as an independent) with little to gain for seven months before the election.
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