November 29, 2005

NH Dems Openly Spar With DNC

DNC Chair Howard Dean worries that an increasingly bitter public spat between NH Dems and other members of the DNC's primary calendar commission could give political ammunition to GOPers, according to a commission member who has spoken with Dean. Another Dem strategist close to Dean, responding to reports that NH Dems publicly announced their specific preferences before allowing the commission to vote, hinted that a consensus to add states between IA and NH had been reached, and that NH was playing a futile game of catch-up.

"The aggressiveness of New Hampshire encourages aggression from other folks," said the strategist, who asked not to be identified in order to discuss the matter more candidly. "The more we fight about this in the press, the less helpful it is to our nominee in 2008."

A third Dem strategist with close ties to the DNC said NH risks worsening its hand: "Were I New Hampshire, I'd be very careful until the primary calendar is set because there is no rule that says they have to go first, second, third or even fifth. Those recommendations are being made right now by the committee they continue to insult"

Dean has steadfastly refused to discuss potential changes to the party's primary schedule, and DNC spokesperson Josh Earnest said Dean would have no comment on the proposals before they are voted on. But the commission member close to Dean said that the ex-VT gov. is aware that a majority of commission members want to add several caucuses after IA and before NH, and that he has not moved to squelch those proposals behind the scenes, signaling his tacit assent.

And one of the Democratic strategists close to the DNC said the commission is close to reaching a result that "the Democratic chairman will abide by."

Other commission members, who all asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss the process, stressed that since there had been no vote on any proposal yet, there was no way of predicting what the commission will ultimately decide when it meets in DC on 12/10.

NH's proposal, released this summer to commission members and last night to reporters, would "(1) Add one or two contests to a prominent position at the front of the presidential nominating calendar, between the New Hampshire primary and the beginning of the period open to any state. These contests would occur in states whose voting public displays substantial racial, ethnic, religious or other key diversity characteristics; and (2) Reverse the frontloading trend by creating a series of sanctioned dates on which states could hold presidential primaries or caucuses, beginning on or about the first Tuesday of February and ending on or about the second Tuesday in June."

In a conf. call with nat'l pol. reporters this a.m, NH Dem chair Kathy Sullivan and ex-NH chair Joe Keefe touted what Keefe called NH's "compromise" proposal. Keefe: "It's a very legitimate and responsible comrpomise between what seems to be the two developing positions." Keefe said the NH proposal "tackles frontloading," which he said the commission had not yet done. Sullivan said the developing commission consensus "would exacerbate frontloading" and would "hurt the Democratic nominee." Sullivan said caucuses held before NH would violate NH law because they presumably would be party-run "firehouse primaries." Sullivan: "In 2004, there were twelve events within an eight day time frame. However, on February 17, Wisconsin had its own date. It went by itself [and] did not have any other states for seven days before or seven days after. Wisconsin ended up having the second highest turnout of any other state, aside from New Hampshire and California." Keefe said the NH plan would incent states to choose later dates because they would "own them" by themselves. The DNC would limit the number of delegates apportioned on specific dates.

IA Dems have largely managed to keep their commission wrangling private, even though they are sympathetic to NH's concerns. Says one Dem close to the party and familiar with the inner workings of the commission: "There's no question that IA has been playing it better than NH" [MARC AMBINDER]

Posted at 03:00 PM

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