Saturday, March 28, 2009

The 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar (3/28/09)

For the most up-to-date version of this calendar see the left sidebar under the 2012 electoral college projection or click here.

Since FHQ has added some states to our examination of state legislative frontloading action this week, a 2012 Presidential Primary Calendar update is in order. Here again are the rules (updated too) from the last update:
  1. Caucus states are italicized while primary states are not.
  2. States that have changed dates appear twice (or more) on the calendar; once by the old date and once by the new date. The old date will be struck through while the new date will be color-coded with the amount of movement (in days) in parentheses. States in green are states that have moved to earlier dates on the calendar and states in red are those that have moved to later dates. Arkansas, for example, has moved its 2012 primary and moved it back 104 days.
  3. You'll also see that some of the states on the calendar are live links. These are links to active legislation that would shift the date on which that state's presidential primary would be held in 2012. That allows us to track the status of the legislation more easily.
  4. You'll also see that the live link has been removed from Illinois. This reflects the fact that the legislation before the legislature there applies only to the date of the primary for state and local offices. For the sake of tracking relevant legislation dealing with presidential primaries generally, but not dates directly, FHQ will include links in parentheses next to such states.

New Additions: New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oregon

2012 Presidential Primary Calendar

Monday, January 16, 2012: Iowa caucuses*

Tuesday, January 24
: New Hampshire*

Saturday, January 28: Nevada caucuses*, South Carolina*

A note on the placement of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Tuesday, January 31
: Florida

Tuesday, February 7 (Super Tuesday): Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois (H / S), Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma (H), Tennessee and Utah

Saturday, February 11: Louisiana

Tuesday, February 14: Maryland, Virginia

Tuesday, February 21: Wisconsin

Tuesday, February 28: Arizona**, Michigan***

Tuesday, March 6: Massachusetts***, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont

Tuesday, March 13: Mississippi

Tuesday, March 20: Colorado caucuses****

Tuesday, April 24: Pennsylvania

Tuesday, May 8: Indiana (S), North Carolina and West Virginia

Tuesday, May 15: Nebraska, Oregon

Tuesday, May 22: Arkansas (-104), Idaho, Kentucky

Tuesday, June 5: Montana, New Mexico***** and South Dakota

*New Hampshire law calls for the Granite state to hold a primary on the second Tuesday of March or seven days prior to any other similar election, whichever is earlier. Florida is first now, so New Hampshire would be a week earlier at the latest. Traditionally, Iowa has gone on the Monday a week prior to New Hampshire. For the time being we'll wedge Nevada and South Carolina in on the Saturday between New Hampshire and Florida, but these are just guesses at the moment. Any rogue states could cause a shift.

**In Arizona the governor can use his or her proclamation powers to move the state's primary to a date on which the event would have an impact on the nomination. In 2004 and 2008 the primary was moved to the first Tuesday in February.

***Massachusetts and Michigan are the only states that passed a frontloading bill prior to 2008 that was not permanent. The Bay state reverts to its first Tuesday in March date in 2012 while Michigan will fall back to the fourth Tuesday in February.

****The Colorado Democratic and Republican parties have the option to move their caucuses from the third Tuesday in March to the first Tuesday in February.

*****The law in New Mexico allows the parties to decide when to hold their nominating contests. The Democrats have gone in early February in the last two cycles, but the GOP has held steady in June. They have the option of moving however.



Notes:
Illinois: The House bill proposes moving the state's primaries for state and local offices back to the traditional third Tuesday in March date while leaving the presidential primary on the first Tuesday in February. Senate action has a similar intent, but the non-presidential primaries would move to June.

Indiana: The Senate Concurrent Resolution would form a committee to examine the wisdom of a potential frontloading move.

Minnesota: Companion bills in the House and Senate would change the state's mode of delegate selection from a caucus to a primary on the presidential level.

Oklahoma: A House bill would shift the financial burden of the presidential primary from the state to the parties with nominations at stake.

Remember that a less messy version of the calendar is always present in the left hand side bar.


Recent Posts:
Minnesota in 2012

Illinois in 2012 Redux

New Hampshire in 2012

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