New Hampshire Has Few Options For Primary Date
(CBS/AP/iStockphoto)
But even with the endgame of the primary shuffle in sight, Gardner remains tight-lipped, and says he's waiting on the outcome of the legal battle in Michigan over its planned Jan. 15 primary. "It doesn't serve any useful purpose to speculate about this," he told CBSNews.com. "I don't have some flow chart here. This has been a long and winding road."
On Monday, Michigan's attorney general filed a petition asking the state's Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that legislation creating a Jan. 15 primary is unconstitutional because it would restrict public access to voter data. Meanwhile, the state's legislature could pass a revised version of the bill to pass legal muster – though prospects for that are unclear because of divisions among Democrats who control the state House.
Gardner says he's really only concerned with Michigan's Democratic Party, which has been more steadfast in its desire to hold a Jan. 15 primary than the state GOP. If Democrats somehow end up holding a primary on Jan. 15, Gardner says New Hampshire would hold its primary no later than Jan. 8 – though Gardner won't commit to that date outright. "There's been so many twists and turns that it's impossible to think of all the possible scenarios," he said.
