Caucuses sometime before Jan. 21, GOP leader says

The Nevada GOP will hold its presidential caucuses before Jan. 21, the date South Carolina picked Monday to conduct its primary, according to the head of the Nevada Republican Party.

But the actual date of the Silver State's caucuses remained up in the air as Nevada and New Hampshire tried to work out an early voting calendar that might satisfy both states' needs.

GOP Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian said Nevada doesn't want to compete with South Carolina for attention from the candidates, who had to choose between the two states the last time around.

In 2008, both early voting states held contests on the same day, Jan. 19. Most GOP contenders bypassed Nevada's nonbinding caucuses as Mitt Romney ran away with the victory. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., won South Carolina and went on to become the GOP nominee.

"We want to make sure the presidential candidates play here in Nevada," Tarkanian said Monday after South Carolina set its date. "We want to be a focus and absolutely not go the same day."

The early voting calendar was thrown into chaos last week after Florida decided to move up its primary to Jan. 31. As a result, the four early voting states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- all decided to jump ahead of Florida and ditch a set of February dates. Nevada Republicans had been scheduled to caucus on Feb. 18.

The Nevada GOP wants to schedule its caucuses on a Saturday, four days after New Hampshire's traditional Tuesday start of the primary season and after Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. But a New Hampshire law that requires its primary to be held seven days before the next early voting state -- in this case Nevada -- is complicating negotiations on setting final dates.

In one scenario under discussion among Tarkanian and New Hampshire GOP leaders, the Nevada caucuses could be scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 14, allowing New Hampshire to set its primary on the previous Tuesday, Jan. 10. In that case, Iowa could vote during the first week of January.

But the final decision in New Hampshire rests with longtime Secretary of State Bill Gardner and not the GOP. Gardner said he wants to maintain the seven-day distance to give his state its due -- even if that means a calendar that could have the first two states voting over the holidays.

The New Hampshire primary "is as likely to be in December as it is to be in January," Gardner said, according to a CNN report Monday that said he was waiting for Nevada to pick a date first.

Tarkanian said Nevada might go ahead and set its date with no agreement with New Hampshire's secretary of state, although she would prefer working something out with Gardner first.

"Out of respect, I just thought it would be nice to just shake on it," Tarkanian said.

It's possible that New Hampshire could decide to vote on a day other than Tuesday to maintain a week's space between the two states or that Nevada could caucus on a day other than Saturday to achieve the same result. But Nevada GOP leaders believe holding the caucuses on a weekend will boost turnout and excitement for the meetings as Republicans pick their presidential favorites.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow @lmyerslvrj on Twitter.