Opinion: The primaries calendar

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It’s no secret that keeping track of the primary and caucus calendar this cycle is like trying to remember under which cup the fast-handed street hustler is hiding the little ball. But the folks at the National Association of Secretaries of State offer regular updates, the most recent one from this week available here: Download 2008_nass_primaries_calendar.pdf. Mind you, the list keeps changing, but you can check back with them every week or so to see the latest.

NASS also has been pushing a regional rotating plan for the calendar that, if adopted, would end the rush to the front of the calendar while preserving Iowa and New Hampshire’s slots as the first proving grounds for presidential wannabes. That wouldn’t do much to please the people who think the populations of both states are too homogeneous to be emblematic of the nation, which is true.

But one argument for keeping those two relatively small (population) states at the front of the pack is the instant winnowing-out they offer. To do well in Iowa, a candidate needs to both create enthusiasm and build an organization that will get supporters out to the meeting sites on the day of the caucus. And New Hampshire a week later, in the backyards of the New York and Boston media markets, shines a witheringly intense spotlight that candidates can’t escape.

So within a week we get a sense of which candidates can actually build an organization, and can handle the heat, even in the winter. Those are a couple of valuable things to know about someone under consideration to lead the country.

-- Scott Martelle