C-SPAN to Air First Dem Prez Forum: Carson City, Nevada, 2/21/07

As reported in Jeff Jones' Richardson Watch in the Albuquerque Journal:

GOING LIVE: Want to see how Gov. Bill Richardson stacks up during his first presidential candidate forum? If you've got cable TV, you're in luck: C-SPAN is planning to carry live coverage of next week's Democratic forum in Nevada. Richardson is among a field of eight Democratic hopefuls scheduled to take part in the Feb. 21 forum in Carson City.

The forum will be moderated by George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC's "This Week" news show. Each of the candidates will give a brief introduction and will field a series of questions. The event starts at noon PST (1 PM New Mexico time).

Other candidates scheduled to appear with Richardson are Sen. Hillary Clinton, former vice presidential nominee John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. Joe Biden, former Sen. Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

I'd imagine that C-SPAN will also be streaming the event on their website and/or providing video afterwards. Does anyone else find it odd that Barack Obama isn't participating? Or is it just that he doesn't intend to mount a serious effort in Nevada, which will hold its caucuses on January 19?

Further front-loading the Dems' primary schedule, California's legislature just voted to move their primary up from June to the first Tuesday in February -- making them the fifth presidential primary behind Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Ten other states already hold Democratic primaries on the first Tuesday of February. Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and a number of other states are also contemplating moving their primaries to that date.

The tentative 2008 Democratic presidential primary calendar:

Iowa caucuses: January 14

Nevada caucuses: January 19

New Hampshire primary: January 22

South Carolina primary: January 29

Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Vermont: Super Tuesday, February 5 (with many more states contemplating moving their later primaries to this date)

The schedule is still in flux, with New Hampshire upset about the DNC decision to allow Nevada to hold its caucuses before their primary, traditionally the second contest in the presidential candidate selection process.

What does it all mean? Most probably, that the Dem presidential nominee will be selected by the end of Super Tuesday. Any states holding their primaries after that date will make no difference in the selection process. Also, any candidates who want to stay in the race after Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada will be forced to come up with big bucks to pay for the expensive media buys and other campaign expenses needed to seriously compete on Super Tuesday. They'll have only two weeks to do so, making it that much harder for candidates not in the so-called "top tier" to succeed, at least in theory.

One factor to keep in mind: in 2004 Howard Dean raised more money than any other Dem candidate and he did it very quickly and mostly over the internet, with thousands of small donations. Whoever wins the hearts of the net roots communities could benefit from a similar outpouring of campaign contributions to keep them viable.

(Photo credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts; Bill Richardson shakes hands with DNC Chair Howard Dean at DNC Winter Meeting in Washington, February 3, 2007)