Nevada: The Second Caucus for 2008

July 27, 2006. This week the Democrats decided to put the State of Nevada right after Iowa for the 2008 presidential contests. This violates New Hampshire law which requires the New Hampshore promary to be # 2 after Iowa with one week between the two.

Why did they do this?

• Iowa and New Hampshire are too white. Nevada is about 25% Hispanic (the other state in the running for second place in the race for the white house was Arizona which is very Hispanic and very Native American).
• Also Nevada is a Western State which would force candidates to test their message and personality in the "west".
• Nevada has a unique service (and gambling) economy which forces candidates to talk about new issues.
• As opposed to Iowa which is losing people, Nevada is the fastest growing state in population.
• Finally Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada (powerful minority leader in the Senate) wants to bring the attention and good business of an early caucus to his state!

I've gotten a ton of media calls and many people are all in a knot over this especially in New Hampshire. (No I am not bragging so just cool it! I have been doing pres caucus and selection analysis for 36 years and it is not a big deal to be interviewed by the BBC, CNN, CBC, New York Times, etc.).

I think it's ok to jiggle the caucus/primary schedule. Nothing lasts forever.

South Carolina will probably also be an early primary right after New Hampshire. Good! The Democrats need to select someone to run for president who can run strong in the real South!

I say, shake up the system and get a better measure of which Democrat can successfully and win a national campaign.