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New Hampshire Primary Set for Jan. 8

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November 21, 2007 4:30 PM

ABC News' Karen Travers Reports:  The final piece of the 2008 primary season puzzle is in place.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner announced today that the state's primary will be held on Jan. 8, preserving its status as "First in the Nation."

"New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary in the nation since 1920," Gardner said today at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H. "This tradition has served our nation well."

The announcement ends months of speculation as well as considerable maneuvering by party officials in other states. New Hampshire's primary comes just five days after Iowa holds its caucuses, setting up a post-holiday campaign blitz for the Republican and Democratic candidates.

Gardner, who has the sole authority under state law to set New Hampshire's primary date, delayed his announcement while he waited for the rest of the calendar to fall into place. New Hampshire state law requires that its primary be held seven days before any similar contest in another state.

The Michigan State Supreme Court ruled today that the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary can go forward, paving the way for New Hampshire to finally settle on Jan. 8.

This is the earliest the New Hampshire primary has ever been held. Gardner even floated the idea of an unprecedented December primary in order to preserve the state’s premiere status. That possibility drew ire from Democratic and Republican party officials.

Gardner himself never seemed keen on the idea of a December primary, knowing that it could potentially render his state’s primary irrelevant in subsequent election cycles and start a slippery slope where other states would move to the calendar year before an election in order to be first.

"If we had to, to preserve the tradition, we would have to," Gardner said today of the potential for a December primary. "It was a possibility."

Gardner has become an increasingly significant and well-known power player in presidential politics.

Gardner is serving his 16th consecutive two-year term as Secretary of State and he literally wrote the book on the state's primary and its significance in presidential electoral politics – "Why New Hampshire?: The First-In-The-Nation Primary State."

This election marks the eighth time Gardner has set a primary date and he frequently pointed out that he has never changed it once it was set.

The presidential primary calendar has been a work in progress for months, as states angled to hold their nominating contests earlier in the year in order to play a more prominent role in the selection of the Republican and Democratic nominees.

Today's ruling from the Michigan State Supreme Court and the approval of the Michigan Republicans and Democrats were the final actions that Gardner needed to make his decision and announcement.

The Michigan state law establishing the Jan. 15 had been ruled unconstitutional by two lower courts in Michigan because it allowed the state's political parties to keep track of voters and whether they took a Democratic or Republican primary ballot -- but the public had no access to that information.

Here is where the 2008 primary and caucus calendar stands through Feb. 5:

Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses

Jan. 5 Wyoming Republican caucuses

Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary

Jan. 15 Michigan primary

Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses

Jan. 19 South Carolina Republican primary

Jan. 26 South Carolina Democratic primary

Jan. 29 Florida primary

Feb. 1-2 Maine Republican caucuses

Feb. 5  Alabama primary

Feb. 5 Alaska Democratic caucuses and Republican congressional district convention

Feb. 5 American Samoa Democratic caucuses

Feb. 5 Arizona primary

Feb. 5 Arkansas primary

Feb. 5 California primary

Feb. 5 Coorado caucuses

Feb. 5 Connecticut primary

Feb. 5 Delaware primary

Feb. 5 Georgia primary

Feb. 5 Idaho Democratic caucuses

Feb. 5 Illinois primary

Feb. 5 Kansas Democratic caucuses

Feb. 5 Massachusetts primary

Feb. 5 Minnesota primary

Feb. 5 Missouri primary

Feb. 5 Montana Republican caucuses

Feb. 5 New Jersey primary

Feb. 5 New Mexico Democratic primary

Feb. 5 New York primary

Feb. 5 North Dakota caucuses

Feb. 5 Oklahoma primary

Feb. 5 Tennessee primary

Feb. 5 Utaho primary

Feb. 5 West Virginia Republican convention

ABC News' Teddy Davis contributed to this report.

November 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)

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It was looking like Hillary might get bumped in Iowa by Obama, but not NH, does the date shuffle have something to do with making her momentum still seem alive?

Posted by: jim | Nov 21, 2007 4:41:44 PM

I think the primaries should be held in the September, before the General Election, and I think it should be mandatory for all 50 States to vote on the exact same day. I don't believe there should be absentee ballots; I don't people reaching a certain age, living in nursing homes, should vote; I have seen relatives manipulate nursing home patients, who are completely out of touch, for double voting purposes.

Posted by: Mary | Nov 21, 2007 4:45:30 PM

Mary, are you an American?

Posted by: Todd | Nov 21, 2007 5:54:08 PM

I would like to know if we got rid of absentee ballots how military personnel overseas would vote.If anyone has a right to decide who the president is it should be the people fighting for our right to vote in the first place.

Posted by: Jeremy Mcfarland | Nov 21, 2007 7:10:49 PM

I think everyone should vote in a primary on the same day. It is grossly unfair that some people vote first. In Florida, during the last presidential election, half of the democratic candidates dropped out before we had a chance to vote. Senator Bob Grahm, a popular former governor of Florida, would have done well in Florida, and would have been a better candidate than Dean or Kerry. This is my opinion, of course, but I should have a right to express my opinion. No other election in the US is done this way.

Posted by: Mark Terrell | Nov 21, 2007 9:00:42 PM

All of the candidates selected are too extreme, and are either left wing or right wing. The system is broken. The middle of the road people have no voice in the current caucus system, so the Independents need to register Democrat or Republican, and shift the nominations to the middle, or the system needs to be changed. Too much northeast influence in these first vote choices. Should include more parts of the country.

Posted by: onemomentintime | Nov 21, 2007 10:33:15 PM

The American people hate George Bush and his lies, his failed invasion / occupation of Iraq, his disregard for the will of the voters.

This train wreck of a presidency has seen 30,000+ dead or wounded soldiers and one trillion dollars disappear from the treasury. The US dollar has lost more than 36% of its value since the 2000 election. Not even Ralph Nader could have screwed up the US economy this bad.

Any candidate who supports Bush's policies & the war is dead on arrival in the general election. Congressman Ron Paul voted against the war and has vowed to bring our troops home safe immediately when elected, the only GOP candidate who can make this claim. He can beat any one head to head.

Just watch!

Posted by: Mark Maxwell | Nov 21, 2007 11:52:37 PM

too much northeast influence? Because NH has first primary? Well I think there is too much midwest voice because they speak first overall......... can you see how dumb this statement is? The only way that is fair is dividing the country in a few chunks and rotating which group goes first.

Northeast influence.......... you have to be kidding me.

Posted by: dk | Nov 22, 2007 7:08:53 AM

Romney will win the Super Bowl of Politics and the nomination forthe Republican Party.

Posted by: kmjjp | Nov 22, 2007 8:58:52 PM

Ron Paul seems to be a popular candidate. Why is he not on the news programs? I looked at his website and he stands for the things I am for.

Posted by: Bobby | Dec 3, 2007 2:18:42 PM

Because Ron Paul refuses to feed into the "buddy-buddy-buddy" relationship between politicians, the defense contractors, and the media...aka, the Military Industrial Complex.They want to keep control of the people through war-mongering, devaluation of the dollar, etc. The media's job is to only report what they want you to see. They don't want you to see that he's an amazing candidate that will actually work towards freedom and not social, economical and other types of enslavement. He does what he says and says what he means. His voting record proves it. So of course the media isn't covering him because they know he'll just ruin all of their plans to clamp down on us all (does 1984 sound familiar...that's where we are headed ) So, then in turn, all of the people that realize that Ron Paul is needed to turn this country around because we KNOW he's not corrupt, we go crazy in promoting him because the media won't cover him, or if they do, they ask him fixed questions to make him look like a lunatic. And then, because all of us are desperate to get his message across because we don't have the media on our side, we get pegged as lunatics too! The world is not as it seems, i wish people would really wake up to the real world they're living in. Plus too, alot of people think that Ron Paul is this "underdog" candidate. No, he's not! he's won so many straw polls, and has raised just as much money as any other "front runner" candidate has. The only thing that makes him the underdog is that the media won't cover him. Good for you for looking into him. spread the word!

Posted by: Jenny | Dec 5, 2007 12:07:22 PM

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