Hoppity Hop: Caucuses to Leapfrog out of the Spotlight?

The primacy of the Iowa Caucuses is Chet Culver’s top priority, but (1) should it be? And (2) does it matter what Culver’s priorities are?

On the first question: being chronologically first isn’t sufficient; and, taken to the extreme, it could be a bad thing. Idaho could decide to hold its primary tomorrow, and it isn’t likely that all the candidates would be on the next plane. More specific to Iowa, this comes to us from David Yepsen, whom I like more than any other Iowa blogger I know:

The worst case scenario is if Iowa is forced to hold caucuses in December in order to remain first.

That’s bad because if the caucuses are held in 2007, they will lose some of their luster as the lead off events since they’d be held outside the presidential election year itself. Some candidates, particularly those doing poorly in Iowa, are likely to use such a change in the date to blow off Iowa in favor of making a stand in another, friendlier state.

So that answers question 1.

On question 2, in truth Culver’s priorities only matter in a roundabout way. Yepsen reminds us,

While Iowa law says the caucuses must be held eight days ahead of another state’s contest, party officials believe court cases have established that party rules would supersede individual state laws. During the 2007 legislative session, leaders and the governor said they didn’t see any need to change Iowa’s law, that if Iowa had to move the caucus date to keep it first by less than eight days, they could do so anyway.

In other words, elected officials don’t get to make the rules about the Caucuses; the state parties do. So why is Culver getting involved in what is currently just an elaborate, high-stakes game of chicken between state parties hoping to screw each other a little bit and the national parties who are blowing like hell on their tiny, tiny whistles?

Right now we need our best poker face, not an offer to move the Caucuses out of January — perhaps out of the national spotlight — and into 2007.

That said, at least one candidate should be pleased with this talk of a December Caucus date: college students, who will be gone on Winter Break for the first half of January when the Caucuses are currently scheduled, will be around through mid-December — and I hear they like Obama.