Michigan to Move Its Primary Up

Whew. This presidential race is tiring. At least we finally got that whole primary calendar thing sorted out. NOT:

According to sources inside both parties, the two state parties in Michigan have agreed to move the state's primary -- legislatively -- to Jan. 15. This is a compromise date out of respect for Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, who really wanted to move the primary to Jan. 8. Others wanted the primary on Jan. 22 as a way to, essentially, play ball with the other early states. There was a nice window being created for a Jan. 22, 2008 event. But by moving to Jan. 15, this will put pressure on the other early states to either entertain a December event or lobby the two national parties to not sanction Michigan at all.

Here was the previous primary calendar:
January 14 – Iowa Caucus
January 19 – Democratic Nevada Caucus
January 22 – New Hampshire Primary
January 29 – Republican South Carolina Primary
(Michigan)

Here it is now:
January 14 – Iowa Caucus
January 15 – Michigan Primary
January 19 – Democratic Nevada Caucus
January 19 – Republican South Carolina Primary
January 22 – New Hampshire Primary

New Hampshire was always unhappy with the Nevada voting second. South Carolina moving up gave it enough of a reason to move up; Michigan skipping ahead of Nevada and South Carolina will transform things from top to bottom.

New Hampshire will move up, likely past Iowa. Consequently, Iowa will try to get an earlier vote, perhaps in early January or late December.


The primaries weren’t supposed to work this way. What if we fixed it this way?:

Move the primaries BACK 2 months from where they are right now.

What do people think of that?