South Carolina is asserting its apparent "right" to be the first presidential primary in the South. The state's decision will have a domino affect on Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa's state law stipulates that Iowa must have the first caucus in the nation, requiring that date to be set at least eight days before any other state's contest. New Hampshire has a similar law, stating its contest must take place at least one week before any other presidential primary.
South Carolina's decision pushes New Hampshire back, and therefore creates the unlikely scenario of a New Year's Eve caucus in Iowa. Iowa state party leaders would most likely push the date back to December 17th.
This is almost an untenable situation for the Iowa campaign staff. Everyone knows how hard it is to get people to focus on anything besides Christmas preparation in those last two weeks before December 25. Imagine throwing a caucus into the mix. Oy, I feel sorry for those young staffers.
I hope some sort of regional primary system is put in place before the next set of caucuses take place in 2012. This musical chairs game is getting old.
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