Republican Primary Calendar A Juvenile Case of Cutting In Line.

When I was in elementary school, the line to go to recess was where champions were made and the weak were crushed under the boot heel of "budgers". The biggest kids were able to budge, elbowing smaller kids to the rear as they jockeyed for position. Everyone wants to be first to break through the doors and milk every moment of recess for all of it's playtime potential. In the 2012 primary elections, states are reenacting this pre-adolescent pageant with many jockeying for position as an early voting state, a position that is perceived to give the state's Republican constituents more influence within the GOP primary's outcome.

Last Friday Florida's Republican party decided, by a vote of 7-2, to move up their GOP primary to January 31st from March 6th, in clear violation of the Republican National Committee. The RNC will have the option of placing sanctions on Florida's delegates, or even decertifying Florida's delegates altogether, for the violation. Florida, on the other hand, has reported that they saw, "a clear opportunity," in moving up their primary to give the state more influence over the GOP nomination.

In response, of course, the earlier "big boys" at the front of the line; Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, are jostling for position as well. South Carolina's Republican chair, Chad Connelly said, "South Carolina Republicans have a thirty year track record of picking the eventual Republican Presidential nominee. We will continue that historic tradition on January 21, 2012." Former South Carolina Governor, John Sununu added, "Iowa picks corn, Florida picks oranges, and New Hampshire picks presidents." Likewise, New Hampshire and Nevada have moved up their Republican primaries as well, all willing to sacrifice delegates to the RNC to maintain their position within the presidential primary pecking order. Many of the Republican chairpersons in these early voting states have accused Florida of, "diluting the primary race", and of "going rogue". However, Florida stands by its decision, evidently sharing Nevada GOP chairwoman's sentiment that, "the benefits of voting early outweighed the costs of riling the national Republican Party."

The ultimate result of all of this jostling on the primary calendar is continued erosion of the public perception of political decorum within the Republican party, and not just by Washington anymore. The Republican brand seems to have become that of self-obsessed determinism; in legislating, in politicking, in fundraising, and even within the national party itself as each state committee attempts to "out-manipulate" the election process. As a bystander, it looks to me more like a party imploding than, as many conservative pundits and politicians would have the nation believe, a party entering a new dawn of populist support. This is no longer the party of Reagan, Buckley, or Fairlie; it's now the party of Cantor, Palin, and Koch.