The efforts of various states, such as Florida, to move up the date of their Republican presidential primaries has created animosity between Republicans of different states. And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus must try to deal with the calendar in a way that maximizes fairness and minimizes conflict,
The Hill reports.
The dispute is between historically early voting states and those that want to move up their dates to increase their influence in the process. Republican bigwigs in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — three of the four early primary/caucus states — blasted Florida Wednesday for announcing plans to hold its primary Jan. 31.
Priebus will try to avoid the circus of 2008, when states kept shifting positions until the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary took place in early January. That made campaigns active during the December holidays. Iowa is traditionally first on the calendar and New Hampshire, second.
Justin Sayfie, a renowned Florida Republican strategist, applauds Priebus’ performance so far but cautions that things are getting trickier. “I think he’s handled it the way he should handle it, has done exactly what he should be doing,” Sayfie said. “All you can do is set the rules out there to have an orderly primary process, and the states are going to make their own decisions knowing up front what the rules are,” he said.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.