Washington – Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards joined three other Democrats on Saturday in pledging that they will skip states that break party rules by holding early primaries.
Their decision is a major boost to the primacy of four early-voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – and a welcome development to the Democratic National Committee.
“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process,” Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle said. “And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.”
The DNC has tried to impose discipline on a handful of unruly states determined to vote before Feb. 5 and gain influence in the election cycle.
“Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina need to be first because in these states ideas count, not just money,” Edwards said. “This tried-and-true nominating system is the only way for voters to judge the field based on the quality of the candidate, not the depth of their war chest.”
Obama said the DNC’s nominating process is “in the best interests of our party and our nation.”
Their pledges came a day after rivals Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden endorsed the plan, which was promoted by Democratic leaders of the four states that have party approval to hold early contests.
They have now agreed that they won’t compete in any other states that vote before Feb. 5, as Florida plans to do and Michigan is poised to do.
Their decision is a blow to Florida, which had moved its primary to Jan. 29, and Michigan, where the Legislature voted last week to push its primary to Jan. 15.
Michigan acted despite the DNC’s threat to punish Florida by stripping it of its 210 delegates unless it comes up with another plan within four weeks.
The prospect of candidates bypassing Florida and Michigan would essentially turn those contests into nonbinding beauty contests, with no delegates at stake if the DNC imposed its punishment.
The chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, Karen Thurman, has criticized the pledge, calling it “a pact to ignore tens of millions of diverse Americans by a selfish, four- state alliance of party insiders.”
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has encouraged candidates to ignore the pact, saying unfair trade policies and her state’s manufacturing crisis were more important than the politics behind which states get to vote early.
Granholm has been preparing to sign legislation that would move Michigan’s contest to Jan. 15, despite the threat of DNC sanctions.
“We hope that every candidate will campaign here,” Granholm said Saturday.
