Nominations may be decided in one quick blitz

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Nominations may be decided in one quick blitz
New Hampshire sets its earliest primary yet. Presidential hopefuls will probably campaign through the holidays.
By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 22, 2007

After months of suspense, New Hampshire on Wednesday scheduled its presidential primary for Jan. 8 -- the state's earliest date ever -- in a move that promises one of the swiftest nominating fights in campaign history. With Iowa casting the first votes Jan. 3 and more than 20 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5, the nominees for the White House could be decided in a one-month blitz of balloting -- and possibly in just a handful of days, if a candidate manages to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.

In the meantime, the presidential hopefuls will campaign nonstop through a holiday season that usually offers a break from politics, halting only for Thanksgiving and perhaps again on Christmas. "We fully expect candidates working the Communion line at St. Joseph's on Christmas Eve," said Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, who was only half-kidding. "There is no precedent, no protocol. I suspect the campaigns will be pushing the envelope as far as they think they can get away with."

Although the date for New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary was no surprise -- the campaigns had Jan. 8 circled in pencil -- the announcement set off a new round of speculation about which candidates might be helped or hurt. The contests in Iowa and New Hampshire -- which have drawn the vast majority of the candidates' time and attention -- are both exceedingly fluid, with the results in the first expected to heavily influence the outcome in the second.

The one certainty is that big states like California, Florida and Michigan will not carry the weight they sought by scheduling their contests earlier than in previous elections. "It's obvious that the disproportionate influence of Iowa and New Hampshire is alive and well, and will live in 2008," said Northeastern University political scientist William Mayer....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-primary22nov22,1,1530669.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

[suston96]

1. That's a shame........

"It's obvious that the disproportionate influence of Iowa and New Hampshire is alive and well, and will live in 2008," said Northeastern University political scientist William Mayer...."

I still cannot figure why that is so. The media?

[cali]

2. No. it's simpler than that. it's hard as hell to break

institutional behavior and tradition. it's happening though. this will almost certainly be the end of NH's and Iowa's grip on the primary process.