President 2012

President 2012: Florida Likely to Set January 31 as GOP Primary Date

September 28, 2011 /

This will certainly shakeup the GOP Presidential primary season and forcing candidates to campaign during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Florida is now expected to hold its presidential primary on the last day in January 2012, a move likely to throw the carefully arranged Republican nominating calendar into disarray and jumpstart the nominating process a month earlier than party leaders had hoped.

Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon told CNN on Tuesday that a state commission exploring potential primary dates is likely to choose January 31 to hold the nominating contest.

If that happens, it would almost certainly force the traditional early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada to leapfrog Florida and move their primaries and caucuses into early- to mid-January.

“We are expecting to meet on Friday from 11 to 12, and I expect that they will pick January 31 as Florida’s primary date,” said Cannon, who helped select members of the nine-member commission.

So, then how would the GOP Presidential calendar look?

The Republican National Committee is waiting on decisions from a handful of states, including: Florida, Georgia and Missouri. Those decisions will help decide the dates of the voting in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The presidential candidates still do not have exact dates for the contests, but they believe the first two months of the campaign will unfold like this:

  •     Iowa caucuses: first or second week of January
  •     New Hampshire primary: immediately after Iowa
  •     Nevada caucuses
  •     South Carolina primary
  •     Florida primary: likely Jan. 31, or immediately after South Carolina
  •     Colorado, Minnesota, Maine: Feb. 7, a non-binding preference poll.
  •     Missouri: Feb. 7, a primary
  •     Arizona and Michigan: Feb. 28.

The dates of contests in Alaska, Georgia and North Dakota are in flux.

Looks like the candidates had better be prepared for extreme weather conditions, campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire and then off to Nevada and Florida.

Stay tuned…..