In Minnesota, our precinct caucuses fall on March 2, the same day as the primary elections and caucuses as follows:
Connecticut - Presidential Primary
Georgia - Presidential Primary
Maryland - Presidential & State Primary
Massachusetts - Presidential Primary
Minnesota - Presidential Caucuses
New York - Presidential Primary
Ohio - Presidential & State Primary
Rhode Island - Presidential Primary
Vermont - Presidential Primary
Washington State - Presidential Primary
This is after:
Jan. 19: Iowa caucuses
Jan. 27: New Hampshire primary
Feb. 3: Arizona, Missouri and South Carolina primaries; New Mexico presidential preference only caucuses
Feb. 7: Michigan primary; Washington state caucuses
Feb. 17: Wisconsin primary
So, between now and March 2, we get to bone up on what's happening, watch the small fry drop off, and come to grips with the reality that Minnesota's got a pretty small piece of the action.
Locally, however, competition between the insurgents (Deanie babies and the Clark/Kucinich forces) and the old guard will have a serious effect on the future viability of the Democratic Party (we call this the "DFL", short for Democratic Farmer Labor Party) and its upstart competitor, the Green Party.
We may even have a municipal election in Minneapolis right along with the presidential year extravaganza, thanks to some awkward realities post-redistricting.
So it is mother's own work that's never done here, flushing away incestuous relationships that IMHO cost us the governorship, one US Senator, the majority in the lower house of the legislature and threaten the upper house as well. Quite the nexus and hopefully anti-Bush sentiments will capture enough fair-weather Republicans to see us through.