New Hampshire Secretary Of State: Dec. 6 Is A 'Realistic Option' For Primary

Primary calendar watchers have been waiting to hear from New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner, whose decision on when the New Hampshire primary was to be held remained, as of last week, the last few bars of a complicated dance involving the four early primary states (New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada) and the state of Florida, which encroached on the hallowed turf of the aforementioned foursome by moving its primary to Jan. 31.

Well Gardner has put out a lengthy missive on the matter, in which he -- oh, you know what? I'm just going to cut to the chase:

If Nevada does not accept a date of Tuesday, January 17th or later for its caucus, it leaves New Hampshire no choice but to consider December of this year. The dates of Tuesday, December 13th, and Tuesday, December 6th are realistic options, and we have logistics in place to make either date happen if needed. Candidates have been campaigning here, and elsewhere, for months, and it is about time we begin the next stage of the presidential nominating process.

You read that correctly: a Dec. 6 primary is on the table. That's probably why earlier Wednesday, you heard a noise that sounded like every political reporter in America crying out in pain.

But, in Gardner's mind, this is all Florida's fault: "With Florida moving its primary earlier than originally planned to January 31st, and South Carolina making a move to set its primary ten days earlier to January 21st, that began to limit options for setting our date in January." From there, Nevada made the move to Jan. 14, leaving Gardner no choice but to hold the primary on Jan. 7 at the latest, because of a state law that "mandates that [he sets New Hampshire's] election 7 days or more before any event that would threaten our traditional leadoff status."

Gardner intimates that Jan. 3 was the best option for the Granite State, but that's when Iowa swooped in and claimed that date for its caucuses. Gardner says:

We cannot allow the political process to squeeze us into a date that wedges us by just a few days between two major caucus states. Our primary will have little meaning if states crowd into holding their events just hours after our polls have closed.

In other words, New Hampshire needs some lead-up time and some breathing room between its primary and the next contest in order for the state to feel like its primary is a really big deal. So Nevada either has to rethink its date and push it later, or New Hampshire crosses the New Year Line and we're voting for the GOP nominee in eight weeks time. Naturally, Nevada feels just as protective about its time and space as New Hampshire does -- as does South Carolina.

We know that New Hampshire thinks of itself as a Really Big Deal, by the way, because Gardner spends nine paragraphs explaining the New Hampshire primary's awesomeness before issuing his ultimatum. (He gives this lengthy diatribe some very melodramatic section headings, titled "DEMOCRACY IS HARD WORK," "NEW HAMSHIRE [sic] IS FIRST FOR A REASON," and -- my favorite -- "CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVES."

I have to imagine that many people are, indeed, considering the alternatives to allowing these early states to hold the entire democratic process hostage to their territorial pissings! Go ahead and read Gardner's full missive, below.

New Hampshire Primary Calendar

UPDATE: Politico's Reid Epstein notes that a December 6th Primary would violate a Federal law that "requires military ballots be shipped to troops at least 45 days before an election" which means that "the earliest Gardner could schedule the election would be Tuesday, Dec. 13." But you simply must click through to read Epstein's piece just for the joy of learning how Nevada GOP Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian reacted to the news of Gardner's ultimatum when Epstein explained it to her. It is delightful.

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Comments

[itzkat]

02:53 PM on 10/13/2011

I can't wait to see a Demon Sheep style add during the holidays... nothing like a Willy Horton add to put me in the seasonal spirit!

[So silly]

12:42 PM on 10/13/2011

I wish they would just have it soon. I am past the point of being so over it.

[McKMN]

12:25 PM on 10/13/2011

NH, I don't care when you have your primary, have it right now for all I care. NH's primary results have NEVER had any influence on who I supported at my precinct caucus or CD and State conventions.

[MyAhaMoment]

12:17 PM on 10/13/2011

Is it written somewhere that two states can't have a caucus or primary on the same day? i mean, really, is it going to prevent someone from voting in BOTH states? And why do these states think who they vote for in their primary is so bloody important? Arrogance and self-import know no bounds.

[lambdin1]

11:53 AM on 10/13/2011

I've an idea. Let us all vote now before the loose cannons get their balls together!

[tangelan]

11:53 AM on 10/13/2011

The sooner Mittens is chosen, the more time he has to try and win the middle. Is the GOP ready for that? Will the tea party have the guts to run their own candidate?

[Riosilk]

02:58 PM on 10/22/2011

You mean more time to try to draw the middle to the far left? He is no conservative, and only returning to conservative means is going to get us out of this frightening mess we are in. People are running around with blinders on and corks in their ears like they're at a pinata party, backing issues and "causes" that are so obviously destructive to a stable means of existence that I can't believe it!

[Erin Findley Johnson]

10:35 AM on 10/13/2011

A bunch of "adults" behaving like two year olds, yelling ME FIRST, ME FIRST. Political reporters whining about extended primary seasons.... well voters are already tired of endless political ads and "experts" telling us how to vote and who is going to win. Then there will be the endless brutal political commercials that tell only a "version" of the truth or will outright lie. No wonder people tune out, hang up and don't turn out to vote.

[NVEd]

11:55 AM on 10/13/2011

I agree with everything except the last four words, I always vote and I always vote Democratic. I learned about 1960 that the gop had nothing to offer me and have never voted for one of their candidates since.

NPR, PBS and Netflix do not have political adds or biased blab_ber mou_thed talkers so that is where my focus will be during the continuous campaigning. Oh yes, fanned.

[Addy Sul]

10:28 AM on 10/13/2011

Lets set the first Tuesday of May for all the primaries and the first Tuesday of November have the election. I am sick of politicians that start campaigning the day after they have been elected and the petty fighting among states to see who goes first.

The political arena is looking more and more like a bunch of third graders lining up for recess.

[MyAhaMoment]

12:19 PM on 10/13/2011

I agree with all except the Tuesday election day... why not Saturday when more people are able to vote since they're not working?

[Addy Sul]

01:36 PM on 10/13/2011

that works too. just stop wasting time and money.

[mwilbur137]

10:01 AM on 10/13/2011

Why not just have the Primaries start on the Nov. 5 that falls between Midterm and General Elections? I mean, most of these candidates have been running for President since before the Midterms anyway.

[NRMLUNIT]

08:55 AM on 10/13/2011

A Primary in December will make the voting process a full year long. Could be the winner just might be bought and paid for. Campaign reform yesterday.

[lrobb]

08:39 AM on 10/13/2011

This has finally gotten completely out of hand. The average voter is beyond disgusted with political robo calls cluttering their answering machines for a year and a half before any election season which includes the off-years as well. Effectively our elected officials spend three quarters of every two year cycle in campaign mode.

We elect representatives and executives to do a job, and that job is not to campaign and fundraise. There is a much easier way to eliminate both the primary brinkmanship which has the advantage of controlling campaign contributions at the same time.

Limit the election season to four months--two primary and two general. All primary elections are on the same day. No one can even hint they are planning to run--or re-run--for office outside of those two months, which includes raise one red cent. Even the smallest violation should result in forfeiture of all campaign funds which would immediately be applied to the national debt.

[Mr Hankey]

09:13 AM on 10/13/2011

Even 6 months would be better than this insanity.
What they may be inadvertently be doing by moving these dates up is excluding candidates that may not have enough funding in time because they haven't gotten enough media attention.

I'd prefer public funded elections (not corporate funded). And maybe televised debates should be more of a public service announcement than a dog and pony show. And no qualifying candidates should be allowed to be excluded.

It seems we're getting further away from a "democratic" process.

[drebleloaw]

08:34 AM on 10/13/2011

The GOPTP will paint themselves into a corner and nominate a candidate that many of that party won't vote for. This will bring out a third party candidate in March or April. This will split the vote on the right.
They should start planning for 2016.
They don't seem to learn from their mistakes though....

[barkingcat]

08:30 AM on 10/13/2011

"NEW HAMSHIRE [sic] IS FIRST FOR A REASON"

Jason --

It may look like we can't spell here in New Hampshire, but really we're just conserving letters here for all rhetoric soon to come.

[Dmpolis]

08:28 AM on 10/13/2011

The news media treat everything like tabloid news. The more ridulous and silly the more you see it. Every election is the time when they all hit the streets yelling trick of treat. And the trick is on us while they rake in the money from all the suckers who come to see the show.. There is not one in this latest bunch of crazies who would get my vote. They all speak out of both sides of their mouths and meanwhile this congress is sitting on their hands and not doing their job. But HR 358 is on the floor and it is once again concerning women's rights to abortion. But NO jobs bill. They point the finger at Obama but they should be aware that when you point the finger three fingers point back at you. Yet they get paid for doing nothing and then take a vacation .

[invmartyc]

08:27 AM on 10/13/2011

The GOP cannot even get along with each other!