Scheduling Woes Concern Some Democrats

Democratic presidential hopefuls former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del) gather on stage before the start of a forum co-sponsored by the AARP and Iowa Public Television, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007, in Davenport, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall - AP)

WASHINGTON -- So what if they're running to be leader of the free world. The Democratic presidential candidates remain at the mercy of party leaders in four states _ Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina _ who want to keep other states from infringing on their exclusive right to hold nominating contests in January.

That creates major headaches when it comes to whether candidates can campaign in two states _ Florida and Michigan _ that have scheduled early primary elections in violation of party rules.

"This is chaotic right now," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "This is causing quite a bit of concern. You can't plan."

Richardson was the first of six candidates to sign a pledge not to campaign in the two states if they go forward and buck party rules, but he expressed frustration that he was put in that position.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd is another candidate struggling with the uncertainty.

"This moveable feast is unfair to candidates, it's unfair to constituencies," he told the AP. "Obviously that creates a lot of problems for everyone, so clearly at some point this needs to be structured in a way that has a high degree of predictability to how it's going to work."

The six candidates signed the pledge at the request of the four powerful early voting states. Alienating voters in those states could mean risking the most important contests of the nomination process, a chance the six Democratic candidates were unwilling to take. Richardson said the Democratic National Committee and the state parties "have to get their act together and put some order in this process."

"I want to campaign in Florida, but I'm not going to do it ahead of the four states because it hurts my chances in the four states," Richardson said in the AP interview. "But this is not my decision. This is above the candidates' pay grade. I just urge them to settle it."

A big question mark is hanging over the Florida Democratic Party's convention in late October. Florida went to the four early states asking if they would allow the candidates to attend since it was scheduled before the state moved its primary date to Jan. 29.

The states said they will let the candidates come _ if they come up with an alternative contest held after Feb. 5 in accordance with party rules.

Carrie Giddins, spokeswoman for the Iowa Democratic Party, said they have had only one other request for a waiver. It came from the Arab American Institute, which has long planned its leadership conference next month in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn.

Michigan has scheduled a Jan. 15 primary. After Arab American Institute president James Zogby said he made his case repeatedly to the four state party chairs, they agreed to a waiver that would allow the presidential candidates to attend his conference.

"The candidates told us they wouldn't even consider coming unless we got this waiver," Zogby said. Now that he has the early states' permission, he's waiting to hear who will come to the conference Oct. 26-28.

The issue doesn't affect the Republican side of the race since GOP candidates haven't been asked to sign a similar pledge.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said the state leaders don't plan to grant any more waivers and aren't aware of any previously scheduled events that would qualify.

"That took up a lot of our time," she said. "We just don't want to spend our time debating among ourselves this kind of thing."