Hillary and the new Dem Calendar

The Democrats have shaken up their primary calendar -- will it hurt their presumptive front-runner?

This thought intruded upon my soggy raisin bran this morning as I perused USA Today's op-ed page. Or more precisely USA Today founder brought it to my attention in his column on said page. (You can probably guess that I'm on the road -- reading the USA Today is a sure-sign that one must be staying in a low-budget hotel.)

The Nevada caucuses will now immediately follow the Iowa balloting, and South Carolina will now follow New Hampshire by a week. The notion here is to loosen the Iowa-New Hampshire stranglehold on the nominating process, and give it a bit more geographic balance.

Neuharth writes:

• Almost certain to be hurt most in both states is U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, 58, New York.

Clinton has been counting on a jump-start with a top two or three showing in Iowa, followed by a big Northeast win in New Hampshire. But unlikely to finish in the top two in either Nevada or South Carolina, she could lose steam before the big states choose.

Actually, almost precisely the opposite is true. While the rise of the blogosphere, netroots and Internet politics are very exciting, money still makes politics go. And more to the point here, money let's politicians go. To wit: The ground war (grass-roots organizing) and the air war (TV) in the first round of caucuses and primaries will cost more this year since it will take place virtually simultaneously in two states in distinct parts of the country. And bopping the candidate around those four states? The price of jet fuel isn't dropping, in case you haven't noticed.

Broadening the primary, making it more national -- this only benefits the candidate with deep bank accounts. And while Mrs. Clinton has a host of potential problems, being cash-strapped won't be one of them.