S.C. Republicans to hold earlier primary

By Brian Mooney, Globe Staff

South Carolina Republicans will move up their 2008 presidential primary, setting the stage for New Hampshire and Iowa to schedule earlier contests to preserve their first-in-the-nation status.

William M. Gardner, New Hampshire's secretary of state, and Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, have scheduled a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at the State House in Concord to announce the changes.

New Hampshire requires a week in between its first-in-the nation primary and the next primary, so it will have to move up its contest, which was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22 under a timetable set by the Democratic National Committee.

Gardner, who is empowered under state law to set the date of the Granite State primary, this morning would not detail any specifics, but said he will wait until he is certain all other states are locked into certain dates before finalizing the date of the New Hampshire primary. A bill pending in the Michigan Legislature could conceivably alter the schedule again, he said.

The acceleration of the presidential selection process was put in play May 3 when the Florida Legislature voted to move that state's primary to Jan. 29, four days before when South Carolina Republicans had planned their primary. Dawson immediately vowed that South Carolina would keep its first-in-the-South status.

The move would not affect the South Carolina Democratic primary, which is scheduled for Jan. 29.

A New Hampshire move presumably would force Iowa, which traditionally kicks off the presidential nominating contest with the first caucuses, to set an earlier date to maintain that status. Under the DNC timetable, the Iowa caucuses were set for Jan. 14, but Iowa requires an eight-day interval before New Hampshire.

Hogan Gidley, executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, confirmed that it will announce it is moving up its primary date, but would not specify a date.