The Politics of the Calendar

The process evolves. Michael Shear reports at The New York Times:

Florida has decided to hold its Republican primary on Jan. 31 next year, ignoring party rules that require later voting and likely pushing a string of other states to move their contests up.

Florida’s decision is certain to mean that Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina will all move to hold their nominating contests earlier in January.

As my colleague Jeff Zeleny wrote this week, the Republican primary calendar has been in flux for months as states jockey for position and — they hope — influence in the nominating battle. Florida’s decision will cost the state half of its delegates to the national convention.

“The penalty is a 50 percent reduction in their number of delegates,” a senior Republican National Committee official told reporters. “That is something that there is no discretion for. There is no waiver.”

By moving their nominating contests up, all the states holding January contests — except for Iowa, which holds a nonbinding caucus — will lose half of their delegates, officials said.