Gingrich Campaign: Respect Tradition of Caucus

A spokesman for GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said after a campaign appearance in Ames that caucus and primary dates in traditional first in the nation states should be respected.

When asked about Florida moving its primary date up to Jan. 31, R.C. Hammond, Gingrich's press secretary, said Florida needed to "be respectful of the traditions of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada."

“We look forward to the Iowa Caucus it's an important part of our campaign and whenever Iowa sets the date, we are going to be here,” Hammond said.

Hammond would not allow Gingrich to respond to Patch questions on the topic.

Other people at the event were less at Florida's new caucus date. Cory Adams, Story County Republican chairman, said it's not just Florida's fault.

The state is simply moving up its date to stay in an order rearranged by Arizona's switch more than two weeks ago and other states are adjusting accordingly so not to lose their place in line.

“All Florida wanted to do is just be fifth, Arizona threw a wrench in that,” Adams said.

The caucus musical chairs complicates things on a larger scale he said because it's a redistricting year. New precinct lines are supposed to go into effect on Jan. 15, 2012.

“Do we caucus in new lines, do we caucus in old lines?” Adams said.

Iowa should hold its caucus first he said and it looks like the caucus will now come about mid-January which means Iowans will caucus within precinct lines that are soon to expire. Iowa's original caucus date was Feb. 6.

Steven Quist, an ISU student and president of the ISU College Republicans, said Florida’s jump will cause a chain reaction with the other states that are typically before them.

“I guess I feel it's kind of unfortunate. It leaves a lot of uncertainty and it's harder for the state GOPs to organize the caucuses in their states,” he said.

“I hope Florida will back off and everything goes back to normal,” Quist said.