DFL moves caucuses to Feb 5

"Political Contests"

08/28/2007

The GOP had already moved and Minnesota is now in the thick of an accelerated nominating process.


By MARK BRUNSWICK,
Star Tribune
August 28, 2007

The Minnesota DFL Party today announced that it will hold its precinct caucuses on Feb. 5, 2008, a date that has become known as Super Tuesday because of the many state that will select delegates that day and the import the day is expected to have on the outcome of the presidential election.

The DFL's move is expected to greatly increase grassroots participation, and is also intended to welcome new participants into the political process, party leaders said.

State DFL and Republican Party chairmen agreed in June to propose the move to their parties' leaders as an effort to make Minnesota's caucuses more relevant in a speeded-up presidential election year.

The state's major political parties have held their caucuses on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March since 1991. The date next year would have been March 4.

Minnesota has long been a backwater in the nominating process, its caucuses coming too late to much matter. And that fact has been exacerbated during this cycle, as states have scrambled to front-load the primary and caucus calendar as never before.

Following Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses Jan. 14, contests will be held in quick succession in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida. Then, on Feb 5, also known as Tsunami Tuesday, comes the deluge, including primaries in the delegate-rich states of New York and California.