Yesterday, Mr. List tried to soften or walked back his statement, saying, “It was just friendly encouragement to accelerate. It’s my understanding that they were feeling that if he were to do well in Nevada and New Hampshire, that there could be sort of an escalating effect as he moved toward South Carolina and Florida. It could give them some momentum and could be helpful. They did feel that way. They were calling around.”
“But I want to emphasize that that isn’t why it was done,” he added. “The biggest picture is what was best for Nevada, and we wanted to protect our position, our voters’ opportunity to be the first in the West and to be a bellwether state in the cycle.”
The Romney campaign did not confirm or deny the report.
“Governor Romney is running a national campaign and is prepared to compete in every state ,” said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the campaign. “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. Governor Romney has always supported Nevada’s status as an early nominating contest.”
When Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian first heard of Florida’s plan to move up their primary date to January 31, 2012, she said she wasn’t sure if Nevada would change it’s caucus date.
“We’re a battleground state, but obviously Nevada is a smaller state, and I don’t want to lose our delegates,” said Tarkanian.
“The bottom line is: We want to follow the rules. Rules are made, we will follow the rules,” Tarkanian said. “But we want to have a voice. So if they expect us to stick to the rules, I really don’t have an answer” as to what Nevada will do.
If the Romney campaign lobby effort played a roll in the Nevada GOP moving its caucuses to January 14, 2012, you can be sure that it will not sit well with his rivals.
And Romney’s lobby efforts here in Nevada open up other questions, did his campaign also lobby in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina? Did his campaign push the Florida GOP into moving their primary to January, and therefore causing Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to move their caucuses and primaries?
The political strategists for the other candidates are most likely asking themselves these same questions after learning that Mitt Romney lobbied Nevada to move up its caucus date.
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