The Iowa Republican Party is preparing to schedule its presidential caucuses for January 3 — the same date as the last cycle, and just narrowly avoiding December — the Des Moines Register reports. The state GOP will formally vote on a date on October 16, two Sundays from now:
“We had a real clear consensus last night that we want Jan. 3rd,” said Drew Ivers, a member of the Iowa GOP central committee who is from Webster City.
The tentative agreement was reached during Iowa GOP Central Committee phone conference last night, Ivers said.
Chairman Matt Strawn wanted to wait to publicly talk about the Jan. 3rd date until Monday as a courtesy to officials involved with ongoing talks with New Hampshire, Ivers said.
The national Republican Party had originally intended for the four official early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina (in that order) to hold their primaries and caucuses in February, with the others following in March and over the course of the spring. However, Florida moved its primary to January 31, triggering a process of the other states moving up their events.
The South Carolina GOP scheduled its primary for January 21, which when then followed by Nevada moving up to January 14. This created a fear among many observers that New Hampshire and/or Iowa could end up holding their contests in December –Â and outcome that the national party is still trying to avoid, in ongoing discussions with New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner.
But as it is, a January 3 caucus date would mean that, just like last time, the campaigns and the media will all be very busy around Christmas and New Year’s.
