Nevada Republicans set Jan. 14 caucus

Mark your calendars.

Nevada Republicans on Wednesday evening set Jan. 14 for the GOP presidential caucuses here, clearing the way for New Hampshire and Iowa to schedule their traditional first-in-the nation voting dates.

The new Nevada date, which falls on a Saturday, ensures the Silver State will hold the first 2012 vote in the West, after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and before the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary.

"I'm extremely pleased to finally have a firm date for a caucus that will greatly improve Nevada's standing and relevance in terms of national politics," Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian said in a statement.

"By establishing this date, we maintain Nevada's standing as one of the first four 'carve-out' states and as the very first in the West."

The political calendar moved up after Florida announced last week that it would hold its primary Jan. 31 to gain more attention. Florida jumped ahead of the four early voting states, which had scheduled primaries and caucuses in February. Nevada caucuses had been set for Feb. 18.

The Florida maneuver didn't work, however. In response, all four early voting states decided to move up their schedules -- though all but Iowa will forfeit half their binding delegates to the national convention, under Republican National Committee rules.

For Nevada, that means half of the state's projected 28 GOP delegates won't be seated at the Republicans' presidential nominating convention next summer in Tampa, Fla.

The Nevada Republican Party executive board set the new date Wednesday evening. Heidi Smith, the GOP national committeewoman who sits on the board, was the only one who abstained. She said she thinks Nevada should have stuck with a February date to keep its full slate of delegates.

"Now Nevada will have their caucuses on Jan. 14th, and we'll go from there," Smith said, adding that none of the presidential campaigns objected to the speeded-up calendar.

In fact, Mitt Romney's campaign had pressed Nevada Republicans to move the caucuses into January so that he could maintain momentum coming out of New Hampshire, a state he expects to win. Romney also is counting on winning Nevada, where he finished first in 2008.

"We moved the date for the good of Nevada, not the Romney campaign," said former Gov. Robert List, the GOP national committeeman on the board. "But Romney's people were pushing for us to move into January so that he could get some momentum and have a rising tide going into Florida."

List said GOP leaders agreed that keeping Nevada's No. 3 spot in the early voting calendar was worth sacrificing delegates to the convention.

"We threw ourselves on our sword a little bit for the good of the voting order," he said.

Romney's main rival in Nevada will be Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who on Wednesday announced hiring a state director and deputy to run his ground game here.

Herman Cain and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, also have active staffers and a loyal conservative and libertarian following.

Now that Nevada has set its caucus date, New Hampshire can, too, following a Granite State law that requires at least seven days between the two voting states.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said that he would strictly follow the law and that he wanted to continue the century-long tradition of holding the primary on a Tuesday.

He said Tuesday that he would look at setting an early January date, perhaps Jan. 3, if Nevada set its caucuses on Jan. 14. He also held out the possibility that he would set a date in late December. Iowa, then, would set its date ahead of New Hampshire's, probably in December.

"That time of year makes it very difficult," Gardner said of the holiday period surrounding Christmas and New Year's. "There is a flexibility to go into December if we have to."

Gardner, secretary of state since 1976, sees himself as keeper of the first-primary tradition, and he believes voters and candidates need at least a week to absorb the New Hampshire results.

"There needs to be a period of time after the New Hampshire primary where people can at least understand what happened and why it happened," he said. "For some candidates, it keeps the dream alive. That's why I am obligated to continue that tradition."

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