ew Hampshire legislators said yesterday that they had no option but to accept a state mandate for an earlier 2000 primary, leaving presidential candidates scrambling to revamp strategies for an unprecedented political calendar: the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, one day apart.
The New Hampshire primary will be Feb. 1, as scheduled by Secretary of State William Gardner. Despite pressure from State House leaders to reset the date for Feb. 8, lawmakers in Concord admitted that they do not have the votes to call the Legislature back into session and pass the necessary legislation.
Meanwhile, Iowa officials are firm on plans to hold caucuses Jan. 31. Traditionally, a good showing in Iowa has given candidates a bounce of favorable publicity in New Hampshire.
But without some breathing room between the caucuses and the primary - in past years, at least eight days has been the norm - political calculations of the Iowa impact are out the window.
Dan Schnur, communications director for Republican John McCain, asserts that if the calendar holds, New Hampshire will become more important than Iowa. That would be happy news for McCain, who has declined to compete in Iowa.
''There's only going to be a three-hour window between the end of the caucuses in Iowa and the beginning of the voting in Dixville Notch,'' Schnur said. ''It's going to be awfully tough to take advantage of any bounce you get coming out of the caucuses in that short a time.''
Chuck Campion, a political consultant at the Dewey Square Group who has worked for the presidential campaigns of both Walter Mondale and Michael S. Dukakis, said there is no way of knowing how the contests will play out.
''It's a dynamic neither party has dealt with before,'' Campion said.
In Concord, the governor and other elected officials expressed regret that they did not have the ability to rescind Gardner's decision.
''Having consulted our various caucuses, the legislative leadership of the House and the Senate in New Hampshire are clear that the primary date is the first and there is insufficient enthusiasm for changing that date,'' said Peter Burling of Cornish, the House Democratic leader.
Iowa and New Hampshire have been in an angry stand-off recently over the dates of their respective events next year. According to Iowa state law, there is supposed to be at least eight days between the caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. This time, however, Iowa set its date for Jan. 31, while Gardner set New Hampshire's date for Feb. 1 in order to comply with the Granite State's law.
Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and others have worried that the antagonism between the two states would harm New Hampshire's special first-in-the-nation primary status in future elections.
In a statement yesterday, Shaheen said she wants to maintain the eight-day window with Iowa.
''We should be working together with Iowa, as we have in the past, to protect the status and relevance of the first-in-the-nation caucus and the first-in-the-nation primary,'' she said. ''Secretary Gardner's decision will stand, and we must now focus our efforts on protecting our primary.''
New Hampshire law requires Gardner to set the date of the primary so that it is seven days ahead of any similar event. Delaware Republicans decided to hold their primary Feb. 8, forcing Gardner to set the New Hampshire date for Feb. 1.
In the past, Iowa has waited until New Hampshire set its date before locking in the caucuses. But Iowa officials this year settled on Jan. 31 before Gardner made his ruling, and have protested making a change now, particularly as hotel rooms across the state are booked for a pork convention and other meetings.
A delegation from Iowa even flew to New Hampshire to try to persuade Gardner to change the date, but he refused.
Joe Shannahan, the spokesman for Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, said the caucuses will be Jan. 31 regardless of New Hampshire's date. ''It's very unfortunate,'' he said.
Yesterday, Gardner continued to enjoy support from Hugh Gregg, the former Republican governor who has been active in preserving the state's first-primary status.
''Iowa messed up. They never took the trouble to find out when we were going to hold the primary,'' Gregg said. ''They're going to have to move back. It's their problem, not ours. They are totally unreasonable.''
Meanwhile, Gardner said he is relieved that the tussling over the date has ended.
''Good,'' he said, when told his decision would stand.
