I’m not entirely sure how this announcement jives with what we’ve been writing about lately (see below on the Colorado primary):
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman will hold a press conference at 11:30 am, Tuesday, October 11th, in the Governor’s cabinet room to discuss bipartisan Western Governor’s support for creating a “Western States” Presidential Primary in 2008.
What does it mean to discuss “support” for this notion? Is this separate from the official Democratic efforts to reorganize the primary schedule–is it in addition? A unified “Western States” primary (say, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, and Arizona) somewhere on the February calendar along with a “first in the West” Colorado primary early on, like we’ve argued for, would make the Gov… well, happy.And that makes us happy.
This may, however, be nothing more than two states jointly endorsing the idea of a western primary, something that’s been floating around for a while. It would still be a good step. The more the primary calendar can be loaded with big opportunities for Western Democrats to soar, the better the party’s long-term prospects for success. Period.