Wyoming to head of pack, for now

Posted: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:48 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Republicans

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
In another sign the presidential selection process may be headed for 2007, Wyoming Republicans voted to move their conventions to Jan. 5, leapfrogging Iowa and New Hampshire.

"We're first in the nation," State party County Convention Coordinator Tom Sansonetti told the AP. "At least for the next couple, three weeks until New Hampshire and Iowa move, which I expect they will."

Iowa and New Hampshire are currently scheduled for Jan. 14 and Jan. 22, respectively. But that is expected to change, since South Carolina moved its Republican primary to Jan. 19. We reported earlier, though, that the Republican National Committee is vowing to take tough action against states like Florida, South Carolina, New Hampshire and Michigan for moving its primary dates up. The Democratic National Committee levied the heavy sanction of stripping Florida of its delegates Saturday -- if within 30 days Florida doesn’t agree to move its primary date back by at least a week.

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Comments

you gotta be kidding with this stuff! Looks like the RNC and DNC chairs need to have a meeting together to get a handle on this nonesense.

Pat, Huntington Station (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:55 PM)

Enough of this foolishness already! If we keep this up nobody'll know when anybody's going to vote.

It's beyond ridiculous that every State thinks it has to move its processes up just to keep one-up on somebody else. There was nothing wrong with the 2004 schedule.

It would serve these States right if most of the candidates decided to skip these moved-up contests.

Richard Fifield, Easton, PA (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:01 PM)

What is the point of all of this? If they KNOW that IA and NH will move (which they must by state law, and I'm sure the WY idiots in charge are aware of that) then why do they even bother moving theirs? This has become the biggest joke of this election cycle. Our governor promised there would be no caucus in 2007 but at this rate, we may not have a choice. I hope all of these states are satisfied with the utter mockery that they have made of the nominating process. Shame on all of them.

I'm not just saying this because I am from Iowa. It is just ridiculous to me that all of a sudden, this close to primary season, everyone wants to move. The time to have made these decisions, in my opinion, has long since passed. They should set a date and once that is done, stick to it. The voters deserve a little certainty and so do the candidates.

Carrie, Eastern Iowa (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:08 PM)

What the voters really deserve, more than certainty, is as much of an opportunity as possible to view the candidates on the campaign trail. I have always looked to Iowa and New Hampshire to learn more about them and their positions than anywhere else in the nation. Efforts to modify the primary schedule will shorten the time we have to do this, and will force candidates out of the race before they should have to leave. This toying with the primaries, in both parties, is at best silly and at worst stupid.

Pete Caloger Bushkill, PA 18324 (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:28 PM)

Rather then have the voters do it, why not just let the leaders in the RNC and DNC pick each of their candidates for the general election. They do anyway.

Alexandra Steel, Atlanta, GA (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:34 PM)

HOW STUPID !!!!!!!!

gn lars, Denver (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 4:56 PM)

Pete Caloger - I agree with your comments except your suggestion that this is "party" motivated. The national parties are trying to put a stop to it. It's the stupid state people that have got a feather up their butts. Take Wyoming - how else would they ever get noticed?

gn lars, Denver (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:07 PM)

Cheney is from WY...not implying that all Wyomingians (is that a word) are of the same intelligience level...just saying.

Al, KS (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:09 PM)

Now is the time for one of the presidential candidates, from either party, to step forward and settle this issue and put an end to what has become a chaotic schedule for the primaries. Not in a dictitorial way, but in a consensus building way that the RNC, the DNC and the states can live with. If they have asperations to govern the biggest economy in the world, then lets see them in action as they wrestle with this monster.

Tom Weaver (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:15 PM)

I can only imagine how frustrating all the candidate's except Hillary must feel with the states trying to change the calendar at this late date, despite their states DNC and RNC representative's agreeing to be bound by the calendar, and agreeing to the penalties for violation. It is frustrating enough to me. I received a solicitation to the Democratic Senatorial campaign fund from Schumer this week. Instead of sending money I sent a note letting him know given Levin, Nelson and other Democratic Senator's efforts at screwing up the schedule, which is detrimental to 3 of their 4 senatorial colleagues, they can look elsewhere for funding.

Sara, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:24 PM)

I am from Iowa and it is incredible that I have an opportunity to meet every major presidential candidate mulitiple times (in my home town of Dubuque) every four years. How we got this priviledge - I have no idea but it is great. I'd be kind of pissed if I lived in state with a later primary that never has any voice in who the candidates will be from either party. A rotating system or a national primary may be more fair and give everyone a voice and not just a few the power to select the candidates.

John Teal (Sent Wednesday, August 29, 2007 11:16 PM)

Maybe this is an issue in with which the national parties can forge a little bi-partisanship.

Paul Miller, Woodbridge, VA (Sent Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:13 AM)

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