Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007...8:18 am
And The Primary Date Will Be…
As expected, the Arizona’s Presidential Preference Election (why they can’t just call it a darned primary is beyond me, another thing I blame on Jan Brewer) will be set to February 5th rather than later in the month. Despite the handwringing of a few about this being too early, this is actually about the same time it was in 2004.
I’m glad that Janet Napolitano did not join in the current circus where it seems every state wants to have it’s primary shortly after Thanksgiving of this year. Her reasoning is that the crush of ultra-early primaries (maybe infra-early?) could leave muddled results, and that would leave the real decision making to later states. The funniest thing for me would be if all of this jockeying by Iowa and New Hampshire made them unimportant to the final result after all.
She does have reason for thinking this. In hindsight, Bill Clinton’s nomination effort in 1992 seems like an easy cruise. One has to remember the he lost both Iowa and New Hampshire. His first primary victory was in South Carolina, which came after primary and caucus victories by Paul Tsongas, Tom Harkin, Jerry Brown and even Bob Kerrey.
With no Republican being out in front by a significant margin for any length of time (and favorite son John McCain looking less and less popular), plus possible muddy results from early Democratic primaries (John Edwards ahead in Iowa, Barack Obama climbing in South Carolina), Arizona could end up being a crucial state on both sides.
6 Comments
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Good move here by the Gov. Hopefully this will bring more candidates to Tucson and AZ.
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Deadline to register (or re-register) to vote in the Arizona Presidential Primary is January 5, 2008.
(from AZ Sec. of State website)
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Correction !!!
Deadline to register (or re-register) to vote in the Arizona Presidential Primary is:
* January 7, 2008 at Midnight *
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:36 pm
It is important to remember that in the Presidential primary, unlike other primaries, you must be registered as either a Democrat or a Republican to be able to select the party’s candidate. Unlike other primaries, those registered as Independents or NOP(no other party) will be excluded from the strictly party primary.
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Interesting Francine. This is a close primary then? I wonder what that will mean. For instance, who would independents, greens, no party, likely support on the Democrat or the Republican side. A more moderate candidate? OR maybe a change agent like Obama if you are a green.
I think this means this (for a lack of a better way of saying it):
A purely establishment candidate is likely to do well in the Republican and Democrat primaries here. Who will that be on the Republican side, is a big question. On the Democrat side, it is very likely to be Hillary Clinton.
For that matter, I wonder how many of the Democrat netroots are actually not Democrats? How many independents bitterly want to vote Democrat this time around.
I would consider changing this policy…but thats because Im an independent (grin).
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I meant to say “closed” not close primary…sorry.
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