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2008 Presidential Caucus Calendar
A special Democratic National Committee panel recommended that one or two
Presidential caucuses be inserted into the 2008 election calendar between
the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as a way to include more
racial, ethnic and geographic diversity among early voting states.
New Hampshire has a law that requires the Secretary of State to maintain its
place in the election cycle after Iowa’s Caucuses.
"The recommendations in its report will not increase voter participation,
will not help encourage more well-qualified candidates to run and will not
ensure the most competitive nominee possible," New Hampshire Gov. John H.
Lynch said. Lynch indicated that the fight next moves to a review by the
party’s Rules Committee.
"We serve a valuable purpose for the nation: we vet the candidates," said
state Rep. Jane Clemons of the Nashua City Democrats. "It’s a tough group to
fool, and candidates don’t get away with platitudes and rhetoric. If they
change the primary, I’m really concerned that we will go to a tarmac
President" who puts in only token airport appearances.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan is the arch foe of Iowa and New Hampshire’s
first in the nation status. He has always complained about the two state’s
lack of minority representation.
"We are an anti-privilege party," Levin said. "We shouldn’t have a rule that
says some states are more equal than others. Even this is barely a crack in
the wall that Iowa and New Hampshire have surrounded themselves by."
Iowa maintained its first in the nation status and Iowa’s delegation on the
commission was grateful. The commission turned down, 18-9, an attempt to
force all states to have their caucuses or primaries after Feb. 5, which
would have eliminated Iowa's ability to go first.
"It was a great victory for Iowa," said Jerry Crawford, a Des Moines lawyer
and loyal friend of Bill Clinton and John Kerry. "The report says Iowa goes
first, and alone."
Clinton sleaze
Tony Snow is urging Republicans to not be stupid. The call is for the
release of David Barrett’s Special Prosecutor’s report into whether former
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros committed tax fraud
in trying to cover up payments to a former mistress.
Like the Clinton administration did so many times, the report shows how the
Clinton’s attacked their opponents:
By all accounts, the 400-page Barrett report is a bombshell, capable
possibly of wiping out Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential prospects. At
the very least, it would bring to public attention a scandal that would make
the Valerie Plame affair vanish into comical insignificance.
Democrats know this. Using provisions in the independent-counsel statute
that permit people named in a report to review the allegations against them
and file rebuttals, attorneys close to the Clintons have spent the better
part of five years reviewing every jot and tittle of the charges arrayed
against their clients and friends.
This careful and continuous monitoring of the report explains why Sens.
Byron Dorgan, Dick Durbin and John Kerry took the highly unusual step
earlier this year of trying to slip into an Iraq-war spending bill an
amendment to suppress every word of the Barrett report. (Every other
independent counsel finding has been printed in its entirety, with the
exception of small sections containing classified material.)
Iowa update
Gov. Mit Romney (R-Mass) was in Iowa helping Republicans raise money. At an
event in Ames for Rep. Tom Latham, former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Rep.
Jim Nussle and about sixty others were in attendance to hear Romney’s
message.
The striking aspect of his message, besides running Massachusetts better
than liberal Democrats, was his understanding that culture is a key to a
nation’s prosperity.
In introducing Romney, Latham said, "We must take a look at a Republican who
can be elected Governor of a state that has Senators John Kerry and Ted
Kennedy along with Rep. Barney Frank representing that state. Of course,
they are the more conservatives of that state."
Former Iowa Republican Executive Director Collin Gentry was present for his
current boss Romney's Ames appearance. Gentry is the executive director of
the Republican Governors Committee, which Romney chairs.
Vilsack’s travels
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack made a speech before Florida’s Democratic
Conference. He was in the company of Democratic National Chairman Howard
Dean, Sen. John Edwards and Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Iowa Public Radio
interviewed a Florida resident who was at the conference and he stated, "I
don’t know who Vilsack is."
Vilsack relayed his story of growing up in Pennsylvania as an abused child
of an alcoholic mother. He also attacked President Bush for not properly
planning for the worst-case scenario. He also said that search and destroy
tactics always fail -- inferring that this is what America is doing...
failing.
Vilsack, like Edwards and Warner, sounded the theme of Communitarianism.
"What's happening in this country is we're losing our sense of common
purpose," Vilsack informed Florida Democrats. "We're losing a sense of
community."
Edwards, who sounded this theme in the last election, offered these words:
"There is a hunger in America, a hunger for a sense of national community, a
hunger for something big and important and inspirational that they all can
be involved in," Mr. Edwards, the party's 2004 vice-presidential nominee,
told delegates at a weekend convention of Florida Democrats.
"Americans don't want to believe that they are out there on an island all
alone," Mr. Edwards said.
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