New Hampshire will hold it’s Presidential primary earlier than ever before, and only five days after the Iowa Caucuses on January 3rd:
CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) – New Hampshire set January 8 as the date for its primary vote in the U.S. presidential election, ending speculation on Wednesday over the timing of one of the first contests in the 2008 White House race.
Iowa’s nominating contest on January 3 and New Hampshire’s primary kick off state-by-state battles to winnow out losers and elevate a select few candidates to move ahead and seek their parties’ presidential nominations.
“It’s earlier than we had imagined not too long ago, but first and foremost we are going to preserve the New Hampshire primary and this will let us do that,” New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner told a news conference.
For more than half a century, running for the White House has meant romancing voters in New Hampshire, shaking hands and flipping burgers in hole-in-the-wall diners, in the hope that winning the state will spark a surge of publicity to secure the nomination in other states.
But a shake-up in the nominating calendar means the January 8 primary is the earliest in the history of New Hampshire, which has held the first primary in every presidential campaign since 1920.
In other words, it’s crunch time folks.
