Primary Chaos

Jeff Greenfield Explains States Jockeying For Prime Positions On The Political Calendar

(CBS)  April in Paris. Autumn in New York.

New Year's in … Des Moines?

That's where the Republicans who want to be President will be singing “Auld Lang Syne.”

The Iowa Republican Party is shifting its first-in-the-nation caucuses from January 14 ahead to January 3, which means that Iowa Republicans will be gathering in school lunchrooms, libraries, and living rooms while still recovering from New Year's revelry and the college football marathon.

And that could create a whole new holiday tradition.

“I think part of what it means is that Iowans are going to be having candidates over for Christmas as well as their families and friends,” Iowa professor David Redlawsk told CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield.

Why is this happening? Because Michigan - long frustrated over the massive attention given to Iowa and New Hampshire - decided to move its primary from February 26 all the way ahead to January 15, just one day after the scheduled Iowa caucuses.

The Democratic presidential candidates have all promised not to compete in Michigan. So, since the Democratic primary in Michigan will likely be meaningless, Iowa Democrats seem perfectly happy to keep their caucuses on January 14.

But the Republican candidates do intend to campaign in Michigan. And with that primary scheduled just one day after Iowa's caucuses, Iowa's Republicans want to create distance.

This new date could prove most troublesome for long-shot candidates who need time for their under-funded retail campaigns to connect with voters.

“For those long shot candidates they've got to push even harder during that holiday season and I think that's gonna be very very difficult for them,” Redlawsk said.

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Explore the up-to-date primary calendar
Couric & Co. Blog: New Year's In Des Moines?

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Why are these shifts happening? If you took a map of he United States and redrew it to reflect the electoral clout of the states, it would look like a distorted mess, with the most populous states - California, Texas, Florida, New York - the biggest.

But measured by the attention paid by candidates and the media in the primaries, the map includes massive Iowa and New Hampshires, two of the least-populous states, dwarfing all of the others.

Why? Because they go first - and they are determined to keep it that way.

This new calendar - with two different days for the Iowa caucuses - only begins to hint at what could be called, “Primary Chaos.”

Watch Greenfield explain the rules to Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News (video).

[whispyseas]

'' ... hearing about children in trouble with authoritys is common, hearing about authoritys in trouble with children is rare, though statistics show that children are far more likely to be victimized than are authoritys ... in fact, children are so likely to be victimized that, were attention to be attributed to each instance, there would be no collection of authoritys on earth capable of punishing even a small percentage of the perpetratots ... ''

[whispyseas]

'' ... it takes one said the lord: infinite gods in eternity, and no one has any power over any other that is not freely granted ... if one does not wish to suffer the punishment, one must choose not to commit the crime ... that is to say, whereever you are, in a place of noncharity and taxation, a place of charity and nontaxation, or a place of all your wanted wishes come true, it is only for you to decide ... saving mortals is the crime that punishes the mortals what one is trying to save ... infinite divergence ... if you choose to visit to a place of men raped by girls, then you will find yourself in a place of men raped by girls ... ''

'' ... is it true that once upon a time, there was a multi trillion dollar conspiracy to rid the world of naked hungry blemished smelly boys by eliminating them from the market share and the trail share? and is it also true that the conspiracy is still alive, though shifted to rid the world of good women by eliminating them from the market share and the trail share? and is it true the conspiracy against the boys never nearly succeeded and also true that the conspiracy against the women, too, has never nearly succeeded? ... ''

'' ... they won''t stand for my being raped, yet they can''t do anything about the fact that raping a girl is nothing compared to raping an officer ... ''

'' ... 36 sick beds a day for an immortal is like 20 minutes of hike naked dance dressed porno get sick tax world for a mortal ... ''

[whispyseas]

'' ... is it true that once upon a time, there was a multi trillion dollar conspiracy to rid the world of naked hungry blemished smelly boys by eliminating them from the market share and the trail share? and is it also true that the conspiracy is still alive, though shifted to rid the world of good women by eliminating them from the market share and the trail share? and is it true the conspiracy against the boys never nearly succeeded and also true that the conspiracy against the women, too, has never nearly succeeded? ... ''

[scoon4]

I am surprised that Mr. Greenfield would misuse the word "literally" when saying that New Hampshire was "quite literally up in the air."

A veteran journalist should know better.

[iceman_1960]

"...that the two public figures share an ancestor eight generations ago."

D*ick Cheney and Barack Obama.

[iceman_1960]

Black Sheep Cheney

"In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon, Lynne Cheney said that in the course of researching her husband"s genealogy for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," she discovered that the two public figures share an ancestor eight generations ago.

Reacting to the news, Obama''s campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN"s Dana Bash with tongue in cheek, "Obviously, *** Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family."

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/

[sgtrds]

I want to declare a democratic primary for the 7000 block of Fountain Ave in Los Angels California and I want it to be held in December of 2007, so all of the candidates have to come here and listen to what I have to say.

[rev0lution]

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[getitfree]

Yah!

[rcohio]

Tonight''s story on "Primary Chaos" opened with Katie Couric in front of a background image containing the word "Iowa" within the silhouette of the State of Ohio. It seems as though the %u201Cgeography deficiency%u201D of our American schools has finally impacted the adult world of the professional news media. What a shame? You guys should have done your homework!