A changing primary calendar has many campaigns scrambling, but doesn’t worry Richardson

Though politicos across the nation are rethinking presidential campaign strategy following the news that four large states will likely move their primaries up to Feb. 5, 2008, Gov. Bill Richardson said he isn’t worried.

California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey are likely to move their primaries up to that day, making it a “single-day, coast-to-coast battle in some of the most expensive advertising markets in the nation,” the New York Times reported last week.

The fear among many is that such a change would make winning a presidential primary even more expensive and would favor the most popular candidates. It also makes the four, smaller January primaries – in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina – less significant, many political analysts are saying. Several presidential campaigns are scrambling to rethink their strategies to accommodate the changes that will likely be approved by state legislatures.

During a visit to Las Cruces on Monday, Richardson said he isn’t worried, and isn’t shifting his campaign strategy significantly.

“I’m in it for the long haul. I’m going to focus on every state, every voter,” Richardson said. “But I’m going to focus on the first four states.”

As for a potential, massive primary day in early February, Richardson said he’s prepared.

“I’ll campaign then too,” he said.

The reality is that few are sure what the changes will mean. While many think the concept of a “super primary” in February has the potential to kill the campaigns of less-known candidates, others say candidates who don’t do well in the first four primaries are more likely to press on in the hopes of a recovery on Feb. 5, the Times reported. Others think campaigns that don’t build momentum from January wins going into Feb. 5 will be forced to quit.

Richardson was a leader of the charge to move Nevada and South Carolina onto the January primary calendar for Democrats in an attempt to get a more diverse sampling of the nation in the early and most important contests.

The move appears to have opened the floodgates. As the Times reported, New Hampshire was so offended when Nevada was moved ahead of it that it may move its primary up to sometime in December.

“This is completely out of control,” William F. Galvin, the Massachusetts secretary of state, told the Times. He leads the National Association of Secretaries of State committee that wants to stop the change.

“… it’s never been as bad as it has been this year,” he told the newspaper. “In New Hampshire, they’re going to be singing Christmas carols and voting.”