Iowa’s Early Caucus Date Boosts Romney

By Craig Crawford | October 17, 2007 11:25 AM | | Comments (0)

Now we know: Mitt Romney has 79 days to knock off Rudy Giuliani as the national front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. That’s because Iowa GOP officials yesterday decided to hold their party caucuses — the traditional kickoff event for the presidential nominating process — on the earliest-ever date of Jan. 3 (Iowa Democrats are still deciding whether to follow suit).

For Romney’s chances of winning the GOP nod, the sooner the better — considering that he has consistently led in Iowa polls, while Giuliani has yet to mount a major offensive in the state. A big Romney win there would pave the way for him to enhance the polling advantage he has enjoyed in the first-primary state of New Hampshire as the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

If that happens, Giuliani could suffer too many high-profile losses in kickoff states to realize his strategy of waiting for big-state primaries in late January and early February to leverage his wide lead in national polls. Iowa Republicans choosing such an early date for caucuses ensures that, without a strong showing there, Giuliani faces a long haul to hang on as front-runner.

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