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| November 22,
2007
State Primary to be
held Jan. 8
By JOHN DISTASO
Union
Leader Senior
Political Reporter
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CONCORD – Secretary of State Bill Gardner is "absolutely certain" that neither Michigan nor any other state will pull a last-minute fast one on him and try to sneak within a week of New Hampshire's Jan. 8 first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
Gardner yesterday called a news conference to formally set the date of what will be the earliest leadoff primary ever. Jan 8 beats by three weeks the Jan. 27 date he set for the primary in 2004. The 2000 primary was held on Feb. 1.
This year's event will be just a week after New Year's Day, five days after Iowa's Jan. 3 leadoff caucuses and a week before Michigan's primary. The timing is sure to change the dynamic of the race. Campaigns suddenly find themselves with six weeks to go and say they will swing into their end-of-the-campaign strategies.
But the date was not unexpected. Gardner had said for several months that the primary would be no later than Jan. 8 and that he preferred not to schedule it in December, although he always held it open as "a real possibility" and not as a strategic ploy, he said.
But in the past few weeks, Gardner had been forced to wait until outstanding political and legal issues played out in Michigan, which last summer had scheduled a primary for Jan. 15.
The Michigan problem appeared to be resolved yesterday morning, when the Michigan Supreme Court upheld the Jan. 15 primary law after two lower courts had struck it down as unconstitutional based on technicalities relating to the availability of voter lists.
Those earlier rulings had left open the possibility that Democrats in Michigan would follow through on their long-standing threat to hold a caucus on the same day as the New Hampshire primary, regardless of when it was scheduled.
Complex puzzle
But Gardner yesterday viewed the latest court ruling as the last piece of a complex puzzle that had seen more than a dozen states try to rush to the front of the primary-caucus schedule. Michigan Democrats and Republicans earlier this month notified their state's election official that they would participate in the Jan. 15 event. But the Michigan Democratic Party left itself some wiggle room in its notification, saying the party "does not waive, and fully reserves," its constitutional rights to ignore the state law.
Gardner said yesterday he is convinced there will be no last-gasp trickery from Michigan.
"I can't imagine that happening under any circumstance," he said, then repeated, "I can't imagine that happening."
He said he is "absolutely certain that there will be no similar event within the seven days" following the New Hampshire primary.
"Our statute says the primary shall be seven or more days ahead of any other similar election, and that statute is being honored and that is what preserves our tradition," he said. "And we will have our tradition preserved."
Wyoming Republicans intend to select convention delegates at county conventions on Jan. 5, but Gardner said he did not consider that a "similar election" under New Hampshire's law.
"I haven't been able to get an understanding of that process that leads me to believe that any part of it is similar to what we have here," he said. He also does not consider Iowa's caucus similar.
Jan. 8 "is not an ideal date," he said. He said "an Orthodox Christian priest" and a state legislator came to him a few weeks ago and "expressed his concern about having the primary during their Christmas celebration."
"But they understand it is what it is," he said. "The possibility of going in December was never a deliberate attempt to challenge another state. It was simply, if we had to, in order to preserve the tradition, we would have to."
A special state
Gardner re-emphasized the special qualities of the New Hampshire primary, saying it provides "the shortest distance" between candidates and rank-and-file voters.
"What happens here means something," he said. "It's about the grass roots and the little guys and the tradition."
Gardner said he had not expected the Michigan court to rule yesterday, but once it did, he wanted to act as quickly as possible to end a long and tedious "quest for the date."
He said he learned from veteran Democratic activist Terry Shumaker that the Michigan court had acted. Gardner picked up Shumaker for lunch shortly before 1 p.m. He gave Gardner a letter written in 1996 by Gardner's friend and former confidante, the late Gov. Hugh Gregg, that is to be placed in the New Hampshire Political Library.
"It's fitting in a way that I found out about the news in Michigan because of a letter that Hugh Gregg had sent several years ago," Gardner said. He said it was also fitting that "on the eve of Thanksgiving, a uniquely American tradition, another unique and important American tradition will endure."
Then, Gardner said solemnly, "Under the authority given to me by New Hampshire law, today I am setting Jan. 8, 2008, as the date of the New Hampshire primary."
Gregg's widow, former first lady Cay Gregg, and state Rep. James Splaine, D-Portsmouth, who authored the 1975 state law mandating that the primary always be first by a week, flanked Gardner at the news conference, which drew wide news media attention and was broadcast live on WMUR television.
Gardner said that throughout the bumpy ordeal of fending off and waiting out challenges from other states, he received strong support from elected state officials, the state political parties and local election officials, who never complained about being kept in the dark about when they would have to begin setting up the election.
"That's what's so special about this state," Gardner said. "Everyone has been in this together."
Not so sure
State Democratic Chairman Raymond Buckley said he is not as confident as Gardner that New Hampshire's battle with Michigan has ended. He cited New Hampshire's prime Michigan critics, Democratic Chair Mark Brewer, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin and Democratic National Committeeman Debbie Dingell.
"Having known Mark Brewer for over a decade, and having experienced Senator Levin first-hand, and Mrs. Dingell, I'm never confident that their animosity toward New Hampshire has been set aside. I would hope that it would be over now for the sake of the candidates, for the sake of the voters in all the states. And I hope they realize that."
Buckley said he will bring his state party's convention delegate selection plan to the DNC's Rules and By-Laws Committee on Dec. 1. The plan will contain a primary date two weeks earlier than the Jan. 22 date set for it in a Democratic National Committee rules. While the national party is threatening punishment by withholding a portion of the state's delegates, Buckley said, "I think the DNC will see that the date was not a result of any action taken by the people of New Hampshire and I'm hopeful we'll be able to have our entire delegation seated" at the convention in Denver.
State Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen said Granite Staters should "take a moment to include Bill Gardner on their list of things they are grateful for" today. "His patience and coolheadedness has successfully protected and preserved our first-in-the-nation primary against unprecedented threats."
Cullen said it makes no difference to his party's leaders that the Republican National Committee has already decided to withhold half the state's delegates to the Republican national convention in Minneapolis next summer. Local Republicans, he said, strongly support Gardner.
In a prepared statement, Gov. John Lynch congratulated Gardner "for his steadfast work in protecting New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation tradition. From the beginning, Bill Gardner said he would set the date of the New Hampshire Primary to protect our law and tradition. By deciding to set the primary for Jan. 8, Bill has done exactly that. This date helps preserve the New Hampshire Primary tradition and the important contributions it makes to the American political process."
Mrs. Gregg said, "It would have meant so much to Hugh to have been here. Hugh and this primary were almost synonymous. I think everyone knows that."
Splaine said the primary "is not about us. It's about preserving a tradition and, more importantly, it's about making sure there is always going to be a place in this democracy where candidates are able to run face-to-face, eye-to-eye, person-to-person, talking with, instead of to or at, the voters."
Reproduced by the Goffstown
Residents Association.
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