It’s (not quite) a date

The Republican Party of Iowa’s State Central Committee will meet tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6 p.m. via telephone to vote on whether the party’s precinct Caucuses (those Iowa Caucuses) should be held on Thursday, January 3, 2008.  It appears likely the GOPers will vote in favor of that move.

The question is what will Iowa Democrats do and they’re not giving many public signals.  It is "tradition" for Republicans and Democrats in Iowa to hold their precinct Caucus meetings on the same date, but not a requirement.  The reason many Republicans argue for the Thursday date is because the results of the Caucuses would have more of an impact than if they were held on the Saturday before the Tuesday New Hampshire Primary.  BUT there’s always the possibility New Hampshire’s Secretary of State could set the date of the Primary in December.  If so, I sense it is unlikely Iowa’s two major political parties would move their contests into December.  To do so would force Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, to reverse his previous declaration that Iowa would select its delegates for the 2008 presidential election in 2008 (he said something like that — I’m not typing a transcript here).   

So, it appears at 4:09 p.m. central time on Monday, October 15, 2007 that the date of the Iowa Caucuses may be Thursday, January 3, 2008.  Or not.

Meanwhile, some western Iowans and a certain presidential candidate have a "date" with Cooter tomorrow.  That’s right.  The fellow who played "Cooter" on "The Dukes of Hazard" is an actor who turned into a politician (where have you heard that before?) and served two terms in congress representing a district in Georgia.  He will be campaigning Tuesday in western Iowa with Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.  (Trivia freaks:  the actor’s name is Ben Jones.  His character’s name was Cooter Davenport, a mechanic.  Jones is a North Carolina native in real life and the two men will probably talk a fair amount about the Tarheels’ chances on the hardwood this season.)