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February 08, 2007

The Daily Troika: McCain To Iowa, And WV Dems Go Against The Grain

Sen. John McCain plans his first 2007 visit to Iowa next weekend, and there's scuttlebutt about plans for a New Hampshire and South Carolina trip around the same time. Is McCain preparing to announce his presidential candidacy (formally, offiically, and, uh, again) that week, the same week that Gov. Mitt Romney (formally, officially, and, sigh, again) announces?)

No. It's just a "normal trip," we are assured. Cindy McCain will headline the NH trip; John will appear in South Carolina, as well as Iowa. McCain still plans to announce-announce-announce in the early spring. mccainiowa.JPG

West Virginia Democrats are going against the grain. They're calculating that the Democratic presidential nomination calender will produce a delegate horse race, and by the time their primary rolls around -- May 6 -- that the Democratic candidates will court the state with an ardor normally reserved for IA or NH.

Today, the party will submit its delegate selection plan to the DNC's rules and bylaws committee. It calls for the formal election of delegates to be held even later -- in June. Candidates will recieve delegates based on the proportion of the vote they get in the primary. "In this race, with the people that are running, it’s very possible that Feb. 5 will just throw things into more of a tailspin," says Tom Vogel, the party's exec. dir. Under the DNC's bonus delegate system, which was instituted to encourage states to hold their primaries later, West Virginia now gets 39 spaces at the Democratic National Convention, up from 37. As we've reported, the WV Republicans are taking the opposite tack. They've decided to hold a complicated Internet primary. Delegate selection begins -- this isn't a typo -- this summer.

Squibs:

  • The Washington Post asks whether Sen. Hillary Clinton will disclose her campaign bundlers. The answer, we presume, will be "yes," but the campaign isn't saying anything just yet. (Check out ABC's Tahman Bradley's attempt to get Sen. Clinton to say something.)
    • A Clinton spokesman tells the Hotline: "We're going to comply with the law." And that law doesn't require bundler disclosure.

  • Mitt Romney was endorsed by Sens. Larry Craig (R-ID) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT). Sen. John McCain was endorsed by Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT). [MARC AMBINDER]



    Posted at 09:50 AM

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