Reply #61: 3 articles about the Commission. [View All]

[madfloridian]

Primary Movers
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/04838553.asp

"So skeptics can be excused for doubting that the Democratic National Committee’s Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling — which just had its third meeting, on July 16 in Washington, DC — will do anything radical when it makes its recommendation to DNC chair Howard Dean later this year. Come 2008, Iowa and New Hampshire will go first. And long before most Americans will have begun paying attention, both presidential nominees will be decided."

Lead off States lack diversity
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050717/NEWS09/507170330/1056

July 17, 2005
Washington, D.C. - Iowa and New Hampshire were rapped Saturday for their lack of diversity and dominant leadoff positions in the presidential nominating process as a Democratic commission heard from activists who want change.

"What we have created is the worst of all possible worlds," said Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.

But Iowa members and leaders of the commission cautioned that they have not yet begun sorting out what to do about the calendar, and that the complaints do not necessarily mean Iowa will lose its first-in-the-nation status.

Alexis Herman, the co-chairwoman of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling, in an interview praised Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack for his recent decision to restore voting rights to Iowa felons who have completed their sentences. "I think it definitely impacts the thinking of commission members," said Herman, secretary of labor in the Clinton administration."


Primary concern July 2005

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=57704

THE PRIMARY CONCERN. "State Democrats will travel to Washington on Saturday for the third meeting of the Democratic National Committee's Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling.

In considering how to set up primaries and caucuses for 2008, the 40-member panel is expected to hear testimony from congressional constituency groups, the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, the moderate New Democratic Network and organized labor.

The panel also will go behind closed doors for what's billed as an open and informal discussion about primary and caucus scheduling. Members are expected to get to the decision-making phase of their work in October and December.

A report is expected early next year."