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Subscribe to RSSDES MOINES, Iowa -- The presidential primary and caucus calendar is still far from set, despite Arizona’s decision yesterday to keep its primary date at the end of February.
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) had been toying with the idea of pushing her state’s date up to January, but decided to keep it on Feb. 28 -- the same day South Carolina’s primary is currently scheduled for.
"Arizona will be a player in determining our nation’s next president,” Brewer said in a statement Monday.
But the February date is still a week before the RNC rules dictate states other than the four early voting states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada -- are allowed to hold primaries and will force the voting calendar to shift.
"The decision of Arizona in and of itself does not end the potential of early states moving up, because there's still other states,” New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said. “It is a piece of the puzzle.”
Those other states Gardner is referring too include Florida, Michigan, and Georgia, among others.
Florida has expressed immense interest starting in the last cycle to play a key role in the nomination process. The Republican Party of Florida spokesman, Brian Hughes, acknowledged that this year, Florida would aim to be fifth on the calendar.
“Florida deserves its own day, and a day that reflects how important Florida ultimately is to not just how the nominee is chosen, but also how we win the White House back,” Hughes said.
But being fifth would require Florida to also move ahead of the RNC sanctioned March 6th date and moving up will only come with penalties. Penalties, Hughes notes, that would be a big disappointment since the state is hosting the Republican National Convention this cycle.
“The rules are the rules, and any state, like Arizona or Florida or Michigan, that violates the rules will lose 50% of the delegates,” an RNC spokesperson told NBC News.
A similar situation took place back during the 2008 election, when Florida and Michigan were penalized for moving up in the schedule.
“We remain hopeful that everything will remain in tact with the calendar,” the RNC spokesperson said. “We are going to work with the remaining states to make sure they are within our rules.”
But shifting of dates will surely continue as the South Carolina GOP chairman has already vowed to move its primary forward in light of Arizona’s primary being on the same day in order to not dilute the Palmetto State’s position.
Chairman Chad Connelly warned other states that his state would leapfrog over any additional states that push its primary forward.
The first contest, in Iowa, is currently scheduled for Feb. 6th, and Iowa vows to remain the first-in-the-nation caucus no matter what other states decide.
“It’s a little too soon to tell the ultimate decision to move our date,” said Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. “But I certainly hope Iowans are not wrapping Christmas presents and caucus-going.”
Gardner, whose New Hampshire primary traditionally comes eight days after the Iowa caucuses, added, "It is a little less likely that reporters will have to spend New Years in Des Moines. But it's not over yet."
States have until Oct. 1 to inform the RNC of their state’s primary or caucus date and how they will a lot their delegates. But, Republican sources acknowledge that the four early voting states will probably wait and make sure that other states are locked in before they set their dates.
NBC's Jo Ling Kent, Andrew Rafferty, and Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.
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What is up with all this jockying for position this year?
Is it any wonder why the Teapublican's are known as the party of:
ME FIRST... ME FIRST...
It is just extremley important for the country that we elect a diffrent president as quickly as possible. The sooner it appears Obama won't be re-elcted the sooner this country can get it's economy back on track.....
I'm surprised that Brewer didn't chose Feb. 30.
UAW Pleeeeeeeease
"It is just extremley important for the country that we elect a diffrent president as quickly as possible. The sooner it appears Obama won't be re-elcted the sooner this country can get it's economy back on track....."
So- you are advocating some Democrat to challenge him? Because it (the ecnomy) sure ain't gonna get back on track with anything a Republican will try.
"It is just extremley important for the country that we elect a diffrent president as quickly as possible. The sooner it appears Obama won't be re-elcted the sooner this country can get it's economy back on track....."
That was tongue in cheek humor, right?
If not, than I apologize.
Drive By, That is exactly what I am saying. If you normally vote Democrat insist that somebody better from your party runs against Obama. It would be terrible for this country if we are forced to vote for the best of the worst in 2012. Obama's poor leadership is not going to close the divide in this country. It's time to move on to a better leader......
Alright - that's IT!
You officially owe me a new keyboard... lmao
There's that GOP bumper sticker again...
"VOTE FOR US OR WE WON'T GIVE YOU ANY JOBS!"
Noid if you are waiting for a politician to get you a job get used to a life of poverty. I would settle for seeing another bunch of "Vote for Change in 2012! bumper stickers!
I don't think the President has a chance of getting reelected given his track record. Jan Brewer and other fair minded Governors recognize the damage that this inept administration has done and are working toward reversing the dangerous turn our country has taken for the last few years!
Many thanks to the Tea Party for making sure this will happen!
"Many thanks to the Tea Party for making sure this will happen!"
Oh yeah, baby!!
jk.
Well Mark, if the Tea Party has its way you won't have to worry about the country for much longer. The Tea Party Express is sure to drive the country off a cliff and crash this great republic into a ravine.
Chaos is not a good way to run a government.
"Alright - that's IT!"
I'm establishing an account for FR keyboards at Amazon.
Just give them your DDI password, and they'll deliver in no time flat.
Your welcome... :)
Kinda scary. The Tea Party with their glowing pink cheeks, pissing on people that can't afford health insurance, calling poor people mooches, ignoring science, hateful of women and minorities, and foreigners, muslims, gays, and saluting to "founding fathers" that would spit on the Tea Party idiots if alive today.
Worshiping Ronaldl Reagan, who would also spit on them.
Pathetic that we have the Tea Party culture in this day and age.
Some of the economic positions are valid, but misplaced and political.
But their social and intellectual positions are like Uganda.
I'm not tea party, but am a fiscal conservative and have no confidence in the administration's ability to fix the mess we're in... hell it's their fault and they continue to ignore what's going on! Call is what you want but Obama's job bill will not create jobs.... it's just another 'stimulous' bill that will be paid for by the tax payers who still pay their taxes! We've been taken for fools and Jan Brewer is just trying to even the playing field. Redacting obamacare will create jobs, raising taxes won't... never has, never will!
I challenge anyone to show ONE job that has been lost due to the Affordable Care Act, name one,
anyone.
Since about 90% of the act is not yet active (other than the $250 rebate checks for the elderly) how could it possibly have cost ANY jobs ?
Oh, by the way, are all you Tea Party people going to rip $250 out of grandma & grandpa's hands when you repeal the "job killing obamacare" ?
Rumor has it they're cheaper by the dozen.... ;o)
Spare no expense!
:o)
And, it's only Tuesday!
Like a neck tie in a hurricane.
Very interesting reading today in Investors Business Daily. A column by Robert J. Samuelson --- hardly a fan of the right--- shares this interesting opinion: (talking about reasons the first stimulus didn't work):
"Start with Obama. He has run two parallel administrations, pretending he could pursue separate jobs and social agendas as if they were unrelated. His healthcare 'reform,' by requiring employer paid insurance, will raise the employment costs. Did he really think this wouldn't affect the profitability of hiring? Many Obama policies frustrate job creation. "
Jobs may not have been "lost" due to the healthcare law but hiring has stalled. One reason is because employers are cautious of these anticipated costs. Even folks on the Left are realizing this fact.
"You're Lucky It Isn't Worse"
Obama-Biden 2012
Well, you are. ;-)
To Dirp101:
Your challenge has a fallacy in it. It is a matter of semantics. As pointed out by others, creating any type of regulation that may potentially have a serious financial consequence to a small business is going to make the average person take notice and make decisions about what opening a new position might cost in the future. A lot of what you are seeing - large companies cash rich not hiring - is a direct result of the regulatory policies and the uncertainty of the laws this administration has passed. Therefore, I would offer, that if 1 employer has decided about creating/filling a position as a result of the situation I've described, then that job has been lost as a direct result of the new health laws.
Whether you want to accept that or not, that is the reality. If as a small business owner I am not sure what the new regulations are going to cost me, and really I can't really cut through all the implications of the new law, then I will probably err on the side of economic prudence and make do with the labor force I have until all the fallout occurs.
fiesty - this jockying has been around for decades. Of little importance to me just as some other political maneuvering is as well.
Dirp, Google "rincipal Health Insurance lay-offs Des Moines, Iowa" They decided to abandon that business after 60 years when Obamacare passed..... We desperatley need better leadership in the White House...
You can't get people back to work if you continue to pay them not to. Unemployment compensation is a employer funded insurance administered by states to cover you for a short period untill you find or adjust to your new social economic position. To do nothing, might be the best. Why do we assume that the government can magically improve our economy. It is not about Jobs, it is about putting America back to work in any and every capacity. The government need get out of the way of small business development. Why do we burden business with the administration of the State and Federal tax systems with no compensation. To start a business you need to hire an accountant, attorney to make you aware and advise you, and staff to be in compliance with the obligation to purchase neccessary state and local permits, trade licenses, city licenses, state licenses, obligations to file state returns, fed 940,941, 1099, 1098, w-2,w-3, tax payment frequencies, child support withholding and payments, I-9's ect. If you don't get it and screw it up, they penalize you heavily. Government needs to get out of the way! New jobs start with new business.
Government can't buy the way out, they need to get out and stay out! National Sales tax deletes the need for payroll taxes administration and our complicated income tax system. States too need to limit the amount of costs and administration they burden small business with. The GOP has it right, Government Interference can only make things worse!!!!
You are on track Rick. The government needs to get out of the way. It is appalling that the Obama Administartions NLRB is suing Boeing because the decided to build a factory in South Carolina instead of over seas in South Korea. What a ridiculous policy we should be awarding Boeing medals not law suits....
Here we go again...
The grave yard shift of COLLAPSE COWARDS come crawling out from their holes... lol
Fiesty---The spate of whining and collapsing of liberal posts by the right reminds me of infant temper tantrums.
This collapsing. It leaves me so unfulfilled.
Not.
More like the other way around.
Rick on unemployment you get half of your old salary.
I don't know too many than can live on half of what they were making. Living in the lap of luxury on half my old pay.
I am not sure that republicans can get any more ridiculous in their thinking. If you made $10 an hour, you are now bringing home a whopping $200 a week. Why would anyone need to work when they bring home a whole $800 a month on unemployment? Most people their rent alone is more than that.
Unemployment helps you barely scrape by until you can find a job. Only a republican would consider that paying someone not to work.
I guess you need to find another class of people to run down, maybe you should go to a hospital and encourage the hospital to throw those out without insurance so you can cheer knowing they will die, like the republicans at the debate last night.
Richard--You are a glass half unfulfilled kind of guy.
Republicans realize that their eventual what presidential candidate will lose and we're seeing is desperation. So go ahead and collapse all you want but I think it's pretty obvious who it makes an ass out of.
Look, I'm leaning Perry, but the fact is, at this point, anybody can win against Obama.
Anybody see today's Census release? No? What a surprise- First Read did not report it.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/record-poverty-last-year-as-household-income-dips-2011-09-13
So once again, Obama is historic and unprecedented- the highest level of poverty in the 52 years it's been tracked.
Oh, and CNN just did a poll on Obama approval post speech. In another historic, unprecedented first, his disapproval has reached new highs.
Nobody has any faith in his abilities to do anything but fail. And make any bad situation worse.
That's NO surprise - most morons are...
Oh, and, I can't WAIT for you hair to go up like a roman candle when President Obama is re-elected for his second term...
Karma really is a bitch, then again you're able to recognize it... ;o)
Obama 2012!
(Perry is already talking to Cialis for a promo.)
I'm wondering if all the Obots are making a secret pact to off themselves if the messiah is not re-elected. As a sign of unity and hatred for the rest of us.
http://www.attackwatch.com/
Unbelievable as to how deep their obsession runs.
American First:
I am not sure that the President can get any more ridiculous in his thinking either. You are exactly right in your statement:
The President actually thinks that people will take their unemployment check and return it to the economy by going shopping or something. In reality, that money goes to rent, or to pay the utilities.
He thinks he's helping the unemployed by keeping them poor and oppressed. The Left are all over the Right when it comes to keeping minimum wage scales down, but the President is okay with letting people live on half of their usual pay. How do you reconcile that?
Candice==Do you not realize that there are 5 or 6 people applying for each available job? Do you really think the 10 to 15 million Americans that are unemployed prefer unemployment benefits to working/having a job? If you really believe these views of your fellow Americans, then you are not very happy with your fellow Americas. I see where you think people, should be happy to work for minimum wages or less. But I would be willing to bet that you think if you yourself work then you should be intiled to a lot more than minimum wages.
To start a business you need to hire an accountant, attorney to make you aware and advise you, and staff to be in compliance with the obligation to purchase neccessary state and local permits, trade licenses, city licenses, state licenses, obligations to file state returns, fed 940,941, 1099, 1098, w-2,w-3, tax payment frequencies, child support withholding and payments, I-9's ect. If you don't get it and screw it up, they penalize you heavily. Government needs to get out of the way! New jobs start with new business
Ummm, not even CLOSE to being right.
I started a business in 1999 (sole proprietorship) and another in 2005 (partnership) and have never - I REPEAT NEVER - needed the aid of an attorney nor accountant. FROM DAY ONE, I researched what I needed in the way of taxes, licensing, etc. Yes, at times it was cumbersome but never has it been too complex to figure out on my own. I have always done my own taxes (received and always processed without a problem) and filed everything without it being too difficult (in fact the IRS actually sent me a LARGER refund last year as I overlooked a tax credit I did not take in our partnership!).
If you are too stupid to be able to start a business without the assistance of an overpaid attorney or accountant then you will likely be amongst the 80% of businesses that fail and should have never started it to begin with. In your start up years do you really want to shell out, unnecessarily, thousands of dollars for attys. & accoutants?? On top of that, if they screw up, which they often do, you are on the hook anyway! Better to get the knowledge firsthand.
In neither of my businesses have I ever found the government to be intrusive. The most annoying thing I have found is that, due to cutbacks at every level, it is harder to get someone to return a call or email and it is usually after a few days to a week. Most people who work in government jobs DO CARE about an entreprener getting the help they need.
BTW: You DO NOT GET HALF YOUR SALARY ON UNEMPLOYMENT. In Florida, for example, max. benefits amount to $275 a week REGARDLESS OF YOUR PRIOR INCOME.
OBAMA HAs divided the country. The sane and aTea party insane.
Its good if your republican and you support them I want to know cause then I can treat you the ignorant you are.
No he has not!!! whites v blacks have divided the country,I know the race card,Nobody wants to say it but we all know its true. From day 1 that has been the rights only agenda & their proud of it! The disrespect of this president is a disgrace!
Wrong, Burgandy. Obama's failures are to blame for his poor polling.
He could be purple, and they'd be the same.
I hope Florida puts up a big FU to Iowa, NH, and SC and decides to hold their primary on Dec. 6, 2011 AND informs the RNC on Oct.1. Good luck trying to get voters in during thanksgiving.
Iowa used to matter. It had a middle of the road, middle of the country, little bit of everything feel to it. With the advent of the internet, it just does not matter anymore.
The democratic caucus in Iowa still matters but the GOP side has gone off the far-right rails drinking tea.
BURGUNDY...You are right on! Repub/teanuts are the dividers, They follow the RICH as if the wealthy will Give them something back!
If You get sick, have an accident, lose your job, Do you think the Koch Bros. would care!
Now you would be someone in need..and now you ARE the problem!!
Brewer is a TEA party-er and therefore above the laws of the land.
While I really don't believe the more moderate minded Americans will vote for this crowd of Republicans, I can assure you that if a Republican does win office he can look forward to 4 long years of Democrats doing nothing but working to make him/her a one term president and I would support that with open arms. You reap what you sow.
Lou, NH==I would feel the same way if a Republican/Tea Party won, but it would not be good for our country just as it has not been good for our country the way Republicans/Tea Party has acted since President Obama was elected.
I want to see Boehner & Cantor take the GOPTP NoPlan on the road. I want to see them go town to town telling people why there should be no funding for collapsing bridges, no jobs for the people they say are too lazy to work, and explain why it's ok for people to send their kids to schools with leaking roofs, outdated HVAC systems and aren't even wired for technology.
I want to see the crowds cheering them for explaining why the cheering crowd should be happy about foreclosure and living in their cars.
I want to see them go face to face with the REAL America who is sick of excuses...especially since there were no bones made about it at the TP debate...flat out, the TP intends to choose the next candidate & screw the GOP. No wonder Boehner looks like he just ate broken glass.
GrammaKnows==That will never happen because Boehner and Cantor are cowards.
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) had been toying with the idea of pushing her state’s date up to January, but decided to keep it on Feb. 28 - stop the press....that's not possible, toying with a bottle of scotch okay (DUI's)........must be Pierce of Mesa (yeah the same guy who going to get kicked out of office because he gives a bad name to Republicans) trust me on this one