National Parties Uneasy as States Rush Primaries

For the presidential candidates, the uncertainty of when and where voting will begin is helping to fuel an unprecedented amount of preelection-year activity. The candidates are in the process of shattering all fundraising records and are stumping across the country earlier and with greater ferocity than ever.

Candidates have already attended or scheduled more than 500 events in the four states which currently plan to hold the earliest contests.

By the beginning of June, three nationally televised debates will have been held on the Republican side while Democrats will have engaged in two.

And without a calendar that is set in stone, the strategists for the candidates are having to rethink everything from how to schedule the candidate's travel to how to balance spending on television commercials, door knockers, direct mail and grass-roots infrastructure.

"Everybody involved in the '08 process is once again having to scramble their plans and figure out what steps they have to take," said Ken Mehlman, who chaired the RNC during the 2004 campaign. "The candidates have to plan for contingency on top of contingency on top of contingency."

With the dominoes tumbling, political observers said raising money and making good early impressions will be even more critical than usual for the candidates in both parties. And they said the prospect of so many big, expensive states acting so early may increase the desire to get a big win in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Weaver said it will not be practical for any candidate to campaign equally in all of the big states that are moving their contests up. But he said that does not mean the candidates can afford to ignore them either, regardless of threats from the national parties.

"It's going to cause Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to be even earlier than people had anticipated. Those states will have even added value," he said. "But nobody can count on that. You gotta plan appropriately to be competitive in Florida both organizationally and with a message. All of us will see a lot of Florida beaches."

Florida legislators and Gov. Charlie Crist (R) touted the advantages of being at the front of the line for both the state and the country.

"It's important to have a megastate weigh in early," Crist said. "Florida is a microcosm of America. It's a good bellwether of how America feels."

In passing the bill, legislators argued that Florida's demographics more closely resemble those of the nation than do those of New Hampshire and Iowa.

Asked how the national political parties will respond, Crist said, "They'll be fine. They're going to have to be. Whenever someone tries to limit democracy, that's not good. . . . We can all get caught up in rules and regulation. But this country is about freedom and democracy. 'Let freedom ring' is my feeling on this."

Staff writer Peter Whoriskey and political researcher Zachary A. Goldfarb contributed to this report.