Posted on 09/30/2011 9:01:28 PM PDT by Lou Budvis
Nothing’s set in stone up north, but Florida officially moved its own primary to January 31st today so the early-state dominoes are about to fall. Here’s the first domino, already wobbling. New Hampshire’s potentially much more of a Christie state than a Palin state, so of the two late entrants, this would hurt him more than her. But of course, if New Hampshire moves up to December, Iowa’s going to move too to retain its pride of place. And Iowa’s probably a must-have for her if she gets in.
This year, it’s a Christmas caucus!
New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who has unilateral control to set the Granite State’s date, moved up the presidential primary filing period to begin Oct. 17 and ending October 28, signaling the New Hampshire primary contest will be moved up in the calendar.
“Unfortunately, we’ll be unable to have the upcoming presidential primary on the second Tuesday in March and will continue to honor the tradition of our first-in-the-nation presidential primary,” Gardner told NBC News. “Because we cannot rule out of the possibility of conducting the primary before the end of this year, we are, regrettably, as we were four years ago, forced to move the presidential candidates filing period to October.”
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Part of the PROBLEM in this country is the “perpetual campaign”. No sooner is one election over then the campaigning starts again for the next election. I can’t stand it and it’s killing the country. NO campaign should start more then 6 months before the election.
We all know that the SOS has to do his/her legal duty - especially that vetting the candidate thingee. Oh, wait... never mind...
Fixed it.
Perhaps the RNC should just dispense with "in-person" primaries, mail out primary ballots at a time of its choosing, and let people vote for their candidate by mail.
Maybe combine primary with fundraiser: instead of marking a ballot, you send in a check (max $100) to your candidate of choice -- whoever comes out with the most money wins.
This is getting ridiculous. Now two year campaigns are going to be three, maybe even four years long. When do we expect the people we send to DeeCee to actually work if they’re on a perpetual campaign?
I know, I know, they don’t do much work now, and the quality of the work they’re performing when they do work is sub par. But you know what I mean.
He's well ahead in the polls though.
Bingo!!! There is no sales or income tax in New Hampshire, but there IS a NINE PERCENT meals and lodging tax. They make a killing off that 'first in the nation' OPEN primary nonsense.
New Hampshire should move it up—maybe not three months but they need to be first—Elections need some reforms. The Democrats are going to try and pick the Next GOP person who can run. Mitt looks easy to defeat—The one they could beat would be Ron Paul.
New Hampshire Democrats will cross over to vote for whoever THEY perceive to be the weakest GOP candidate so THEIR guy can win in the general. NH Dems crossed over for McCain, and now look at the mess we are in. NH going first isn’t as much of a problem as their OPEN primary.
Letting NH democrats vote in the first GOP primary in the nation is ridiculous and the RNC is a collection of incompetent morons.
Unless NH moves to a closed primary to actual registered Republicans and not same day transfers and people that “promise” they will move in and really register, they should be relegated to a more meaningless role, IMO.
Democrats have nothing to do but to vote for the weakest GOP candidate which does nothing for the process.
This process needs to be cleaned up so we get a better representation of what actual influential Republicans and affiliated groups think. The last thing we need is a process polluted by leftist shenanigans.
If NH wants to be the leader, it should lead, not whine.
Excellent post.
Totally agree.
Let’s just have a National Primary Day, and cut this crap out.
That is certainly a factor GQ, but if that were the only reason, it seems that folks would have been battling it out for the top spots for the last 20 years.
I am hoping that it is more indicative of a nationwide determination to get this darn show on the road, and get 0 OUT of our hair AsSoonAsHumanlyPossible!!
God be with us.
Tatt
I could certainly go for that, since it might make for less of the strategic cross over voting in the open primaries as well.
When everything is riding on one roll of the dice, folks SHOULD be more inclined to vote who they really want in their own darn party, versus trying to give momentum to the weaker candidates in the other guys!!
Oh - and GoGators! :)
Tatt
Oh, how Hussein has INDEED united these states! :)
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