Primarily, An Iowa Update

Chet Culver, Governor of Iowa, says that if he has to change state law to keep Iowa's caucus first — and in 2008 — then he will.

I'm not sure what to make of it. They sound like two separate promises, in the current climate. With everyone else jockeying around for earlier dates, I don't know you could keep Iowa first AND prevent it from sliding back into the waning days of 2007. Culver, a Democrat in his first time, says not to worry, though. From the previously-linked Politico story:

Culver said he is not going to let this happen. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “This is a 2008 election process and it should begin in 2008.”

But, when questioned whether Iowa would have to change its law to reduce the amount of time between its contest and New Hampshire’s, Culver said: “I think we have to be practical about the date. Period.”

Another possibility, which Politico revealed on Wednesday, is that New Hampshire could abandon its tradition of always holding its primary on a Tuesday, which would give Iowa some breathing room.

South Carolina Republicans started this mess earlier in the week. Everyone had been getting along rather pleasantly after the initial February 5 goldrush earlier in the year. Now, however, the tide is rising and surging towards some sort of other calendar which may stack all of the "early" primary states, now free of their legally-required 7 or 8 day barriers, within one three week period in January. It is totally possible that Iowa and New Hampshire are on a high-five basis, as Culver claims, but we'll see how seriously everyone is taking this by the time we get to early September.