Nevada announced it would hold its primary January 14 last night and that might boost one candidate’s campaign, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
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.”
For what it’s worth, Nevada GOP governor Brian Sandoval has endorsed Rick Perry.
Rick Santorum complained about it on a Fox appearance today, reports GOP12. “It certainly seems to me that someone is trying to shorten or reduce the clock, trying to run this clock down,” he said, mentioning Romney and Perry specifically. “I’m just saying we should look into this and find out what is the truth, and if Governor Romney is doing this, I think he owes an apology to people.”
Jon Huntsman also expressed dissatisfaction with the Romney campaign. “I think it’s inappropriate for presidential candidates to be micromanaging the scheduling and the timing of these primaries,” Huntsman told Fox News in an interview this afternoon. “That should happen at a pace that states and individual legislators are comfortable with, not in a way that presidential candidates are making recommendations.”
Asked for comment, Romney spokesman Andrea Saul e-mailed, “Governor Romney is running a national campaign and is prepared to compete in every state. He believes that Iowa’s first in-the-nation caucus and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary should be preserved, and he looks forward to competing in every other nominating contest – whenever they are scheduled. To be clear, states determine when their contests will be held. Gov. Romney has always supported Nevada’s status as an early nominating contest.”