ISSUE: Presidential primaries

OUR VIEW: Parties'battles with states yielding a mess

The political primary wars go on. Expect soon to hear more open talk about states' rights in the matter.

Already, the Democratic National Committee has decided to punish Florida for moving the date of its presidential primary in 2008 ahead of South Carolina and other states designated as the early contests.

Now the Republican National Committee has acted against New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming by stripping each state of half of its convention delegates because primaries in each state have been moved ahead of the designated Feb. 5 date.

Iowa and Nevada were not punished, even though their caucus dates are also ahead of Feb. 5. Because the caucuses are not binding on convention delegates, the states are unaffected by the RNC decision.

Nonetheless, what an electoral mess is brewing.

With states trying to move primary dates up to give their residents "a say" in the nomination process, there actually now is the risk that New Hampshire and maybe even others could schedule voting as early as December -- and that's 2007.

Candidates are left to decide where to campaign, uncertain about dates and delegates. And there is the matter of the Democratic contenders' pledge not to openly campaign in states that have gone against DNC stipulations.

In South Carolina, GOP Chairman Katon Dawson is saying the party will consider legal action if the state is penalized delegates.

"We're going to check the legality of it," Dawson told The Associated Press. "I don't think we will have any problem going to fight for our delegates. Will we get them all? I don't know, but we are certainly going to put up a fight."

Expect other states to follow suit, even though Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the parties are in the right. He said there is plenty of legal precedent granting political parties the authority to set their own rules.

"I'm very confident of our legal footing," he told The Associated Press.

The picture may not be so clear. In New Hampshire, for example, state law mandates that primaries be held at least seven days before the voting in any other state.

New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen told The AP his state's delegates are being punished, even though they have no say on the date of their primary. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has the sole authority to set the state's primary date.

It reads a lot like a states' right argument over who has authority in the matter. And with South Carolina no longer the last holdout among states paying for presidential primaries, there is the issue of control: the party and its national nominating process or the states with their voters and money paying for the process?

As problematic are attitudes. Even in the face of losing delegates, leaders such as New Hampshire's Cullen says he is willing to accept punishment to "protect and preserve" New Hampshire's status of having the first primary in the nation.

The nominating process is at risk of breaking down.

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