South Carolina Primary Might Be State-Funded
Sen. John McCain joked yesterday that South Carolina Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson "extorted" $25,000 from his presidential campaign. Technically, that's the price of entry. The state pays for its own primary. Or it did.
This week, the South Carolina state senate approved a $7.2B budget for fiscal year 2008. Included among the line items: money to fund the '08 Republican and Democratic primaries. Gov. Mark Sanford (R) might veto the budget, and the Senate will probably override its veto.
So - the state parties can set any primary date they want. And the state will pay for it. One caveat: the state will also supervise the election, which means that shenanigans will be harder to pull off.
The parties don't have to schedule their primaries on the same day. And they've both sent signals that they're itching to move up their dates. Right now, the Democrats are scheduled for 1/29. The Republicans are scheduled for 2/2. Privately, party insiders predict that both parties could hold their primaries as early as January 15.
And why not?
Neither party cares about delegates. And all the candidates will participate. [MARC AMBINDER]