More states for Feb. 5.
Georgia and Alaska joined the growing list of states pushing up their presidential primary voting to Feb. 5, a date clearly shaping up as a national primary day for Republicans and Democrats.
In Alaska, caucuses will be held Feb. 5, 2008. In 2004, Alaska Democrats held their caucus in March, while Republicans waited until the end of May to hold their convention.
"We wanted to make sure Alaska had a reasonable standing in the public debate," said Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the Republican Party of Alaska. "We're going to be on Feb. 5, along with what appears to be over half the country."
The irony, of course, is that Alaska will be neatly forgotten as it goes toe to toe against super states like California and New York. But, at least, its delegates will help decide who wins the nomination. And who knows, they might even give Gravel a nice consolation prize that day.
States currently selecting delegates on Feb. 5 (with number of delegates): Alabama (60), Alaska (18), Arizona (67), Arkansas (47), California (441), Colorado (71), Delaware (21), Georgia (104), Idaho (23), Illinois (185), Missouri (88), New Jersey (127), New Mexico (38), New York (280), Oklahoma (47), Tennessee (85), and Utah (29). I may have missed a state or two since some states are still moving dates around.
Florida (185) is set to go on January 29 with South Carolina (45), though the party is threatening to strip away Florida's delegates if it insists on crowding the first states.
Working backwards, there's New Hampshire (22) on Jan 22, though they'll likely move their primary ahead of Iowa or even into late December, there's Nevada (25) on Jan 19, and Iowa (45) on Jan 14.
As you can see, those early contests are not about delegates, since the early states don't have many to offer. It's all about perception and momentum.
If Feb 5 turns into a deadlocked free-for-all, the states that may do some final winnowing may be the February 9 contests -- Louisiana (68), Michigan (157), and Nebraska (31). The next day, Maine (34) has its caucuses, and the day after, the 12th, gives us DC (37), Maryland (99), and Virginia (103).
Update: North Dakota has also moved up to Feb. 5.
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