Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 | 3:53 p.m.
It's the day after Thanksgiving and things are getting intense out there. For retailers and shoppers, it's frenzied Black Friday, launching the holiday shopping season. And the campaigns, the Los Angeles Times notes, are rushing toward a few climactic days in January that can decide the presidential race.
With the Iowa caucuses set for Jan. 3, the New Hampshire primaries on Jan. 8 (the earliest date ever) and the Nevada caucuses Jan. 19, campaigns are entering new territory, as concentrated — and likely negative — politicking clashes with the holiday season.
One obvious loser, the Times notes, is the Democratic National Committee and its plans to dilute the influence of those two traditional states by adding Nevada and South Carolina to the mix. While candidates have campaigned in all four states, Iowa and New Hampshire have become more important than ever.
"What it says is we haven't accomplished a thing," says Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, of the nomination reform efforts. The Sun's Washington correspondent, Lisa Mascaro, examined the fallout from the calendar chaos earlier this week.
For now, Iowa is all-important, as this early-states round-up from the Associated Press makes clear. Note: The piece piggybacks on national reports about the Culinary Union's endorsement being expected in early December. Culinary leaders tell the Sun they have not decided who to endorse, or when.
The Washington Post examines the peculiar benefits of being an Iowan's No. 2 pick. The piece is relevant for Nevadans since our caucus is based on the Iowa model. Here's how it works, courtesy of the Post:
In most precincts, each candidate must receive support from at least 15 percent of the folks in attendance to remain viable. If a smaller percentage of caucus-goers in a particular precinct supports Sen. Chris Dodd, for example, each Dodd supporter has the option of throwing his or her support to someone else, someone they like second-best.
And that may help the second-best person come in first.
We took a look at the campaigns' Nevada organizations last month, as they sought to enlist their "hard ones" and identify their No. 2s.
The New York Times looks at the dietary perils of campaigning. Two words: Corn dog.
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