Yesterday we had news of a bold step down in Arizona:
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced Monday that she will defy RNC rules and schedule her state's 2012 primary for Feb. 28.
That means Arizona will vote a full week before March 6, when a joint RNC-DNC agreement said states can begin holding primary elections without facing penalties at the 2012 conventions. As it is, only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can hold officially sanctioned contests before that date.
As we all, know when it comes to presidential primaries and caucuses, those four states to get to go first. And so their response was swift and decisive:
South Carolina Republicans are reacting swiftly to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s decision to defy the Republican National Committee guidelines and move her state’s primary to the same date they’ve got for theirs, promising they won’t remain on the calendar together for long.
South Carolina Republican Party Chair Chad Connelly says if his state can’t be alone in picking a presidential nominee on Feb. 28, they’re going to change to do a date when they can — setting off a likely domino effect of early state timing changes.
“We’re not going to share our date with anybody,” the South Carolinian told POLITICO. “Especially, not with any state that violates the rules.”
If South Carolina moves back, New Hampshire and Iowa are likely to as well. Connelly predicted strict consequences for any states — Florida is also looking at moving up its primary, as are others — which push the beginning of the official voting season back into early January.
And if you're wondering how the early states have cemented their vanguard status, it isn't just party rules. Some of them actually have state laws in place:
Traditionally New Hampshire and Iowa have coordinated to protect their early-voting status — with the support of the national parties, and presidential candidates eager for their votes — but with each presidential-election cycle, the pressure has grown from other states coveting candidates’ attention to them and their issues. By law, Iowa’s party caucuses must be eight days before New Hampshire’s primaries, and New Hampshire, by law, requires its primaries to be a week before any state’s similar contest.
The way out of this endless flirtation with one-upmanship is clear. Competing states must pass laws declaring that their primaries must be before New Hampshire's, creating a paradox, the result of which should cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe.
