The Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee voted unanimously last night to schedule the next Iowa caucuses for 7 pm on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
Last year, Iowa officials and the Republican National Committee had tentatively agreed on a schedule that would have started the presidential nominating process with Iowa caucuses on February 6. Florida Republicans messed up that plan by scheduling their state’s primary for January 31. (Side note: which genius on the RNC didn’t secure a promise not to mess with the calendar in exchange for holding next summer’s nominating convention in Florida?)
Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn didn’t sound happy last night, and he blamed his colleagues in Nevada as well as the Floridians:
“I will do everything in my power on the (Republican National Committee) to hold Florida accountable for creating this mess, but the culpability for creating a compressed January calendar does not end there.
“The actions of early state newcomer Nevada have also exacerbated this problem and unnecessarily crowded the January calendar. Time remains for Nevada to respect the process, honor tradition and rectify the problem in a way that will restore order to the nomination calendar.”
Nevada Republicans have scheduled their caucuses for Saturday, January 14. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner hasn’t picked a date for his state’s primary yet. Tuesday, January 10 looks like a strong choice, but Gardner insists that no other state’s nominating event should occur less than a week after the New Hampshire primary.
I am sympathetic to the idea of holding caucuses on a Saturday rather than on a weeknight, when more shift workers would be unable to attend. To my mind, making caucuses accessible to as many Nevadans as possible is more important than Bill Gardner’s arbitrary belief that no gap shorter than seven days will do. But then, I’m one of those strange Iowans who thinks we should reform a caucus system that currently prevents many interested voters from participating.
During the past few election cycles, Iowa and New Hampshire have coordinated the schedule for the first-in-the-nation caucuses and primary. However, I think it was wise for Iowa Republicans to lock in the January 3 date now. As lousy as it was to campaign during the holiday season and compete with college football to turn out voters for the 2008 caucuses, it would be worse to caucus right after Thanksgiving. Gardner may set the New Hampshire primary for December 6 or 13 if Nevada doesn’t shift its caucuses to January 17. I think Iowa would have more influence going second in early January than going first in late November or early December.
Please share your own thoughts on the topic in this thread.
UPDATE: Governor Terry Branstad and Strawn gave Nevada Republicans some unsolicited advice on Monday:
Moving Nevada’s caucuses would allow New Hampshire to hold its first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 10 while still providing ample campaign time before and after all the lead-off nominating events.
“That’s not too much to ask,” Branstad said. “They would still be third in this process, so hopefully that can get worked out.”
Added Strawn. “The ball to some degree is in Nevada’s court.”
2 Comments
why Nevada?
Nevada proved its amateur status last cycle when the caucuses were a meltdown on both sides. One of the reasons caucuses have worked well in Iowa is the deep-rooted nature of the state; neighborhood meetings don’t work when your neighborhood was a desert seven years ago.
They’re proving their not ready for prime time status again this year by first hinting that they’d throw in the towel and go after florida, then 12 hours later reversing coursing and overdoing the Great Feap Forward.
The original intent behind Nevada joining the more traditional early states in 2006 was that Dems wanted to add a Hispanic influence yet relatively small state. Frankly, New Mexico had a better case, but unfortunately for them Bill Richardson was running. With him out of the picture, the parties could have considered NM this cycle.
But if it’s gonna be Nevada on a Saturday, 1/21 is as good or better than 1/14.
jdeeth Tue 18 Oct 9:51 AM
I have no problem with January 21
and I agree that their caucuses weren’t particularly well-organized in 2008. My point is that they had valid reasons to schedule the caucuses on a Saturday instead of on the 17th.
I think Gardner is overplaying his hand. If New Hampshire goes in early December and it’s a Romney rout as expected, the primary won’t have the same influence it’s had in previous years. People will just consider January the “real” beginning of the GOP nominating contest.
desmoinesdem Tue 18 Oct 12:03 PM