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In the snows of New Hampshire . . . in November?

Published August 10, 2007 at midnight

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The two major political parties could use some adult supervision. In a race for attention and importance, the states have been moving their primaries and caucuses earlier and earlier in the year, and thanks to the latest escalation, there's a possibility the Iowa caucuses could be held before Christmas . . . this Christmas.

Because of the leapfrogging of dates, the nominees of both parties will probably be known the morning after Feb. 5, "Tsunami Tuesday," when more than 20 states, including California and New York and probably Colorado, make their choices.

That leaves about seven months until those choices are ratified by the parties' presidential nominating conventions - the Democrats in Denver the last week in August, the Republicans the first week in September.

But wait, as they say, it gets worse.

Florida, feeling it might be overlooked in the crush of Feb. 5, moved its primary to Jan. 29, greatly angering South Carolina, which prides itself that its primary, then scheduled for Feb. 2, is the "first in the South." So South Carolina this week moved its GOP primary to Jan. 19. That set the dominos tumbling.

The New Hampshire primary, traditionally the first in the nation, had been scheduled for Jan. 22, but state law requires that primary to be held at least a week before any other nominating event except Iowa's, meaning it may have to be rescheduled for Jan. 8.

Iowa requires that its caucuses be held eight days before any other primary or caucus. That would mean setting the date at Dec. 31 - this Dec. 31. But no one is going to schedule caucuses on New Year's Eve, and then there's Christmas, and the next thing you know you're talking mid-December.

The only way to stop the madness is for the national parties to take away presidential convention delegates from states that schedule early primaries and caucuses. Since that could not happen until the 2012 election, however, we face the ridiculous possibility of a "Super Thanksgiving."