The NYT reports on this:
California lawmakers from both parties, hoping to give the state more say in the nominating process, are considering moving the presidential primary from June to a date nearer the New Hampshire primary in January.
(Incidentally, I don’t think that this can be right because the Dems changed their rules to strip delegates from states that pick delegates before Feb. 5) The catch is, of course, that this is an expensive media state:
Nonetheless, mischief-making with the country’s primary calendar would doubtless cause consternation among national party officials and candidates from both parties. California is one of the most expensive markets to campaign in, and an early primary date would require huge expenditures early in the season.
If California moved up that quickly, it would almost certainly shut off all but the front-runners from even running. If there are GOPers in California who are working on this, they must be thinking that this helps Romney. He spent a lot of time in Cali this fall. And he has natural allies with the powerful Mormon bloc in the California Republican Party. For the Dems, I would assume that this would be a pro-Hillary strategy. Who else could raise $30-40 million that early?
1 Comment
eyeon08.com » Money boxing people out? · November 27, 2006 at 9:59 AM
[…] This will have a dramatic impact on the race. Money organizations will matter more. On the GOP side, this makes it harder for the Newt strategy to be viable (how does he get the $75m it takes to buy all of that TV?) and the helps Romney. (I have written on this before regarding California and Romney) This makes it more likely to be a McCain versus Romney showdown. Giuliani has not demonstrated the financial infrastructure necessary to put a hundred staffers in each of these states and $30-50 million. McCain will have that apparatus. […]
Comments are closed.