Democrats Shake Up Nominating Process

In a cycle when Democrats are desperate to displace an unpopular GOP, they are taking a HUGE gamble. They are shaking up the nominating process for President considerably.

Nevada and South Carolina will join Iowa and New Hampshire as the kickoff states for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominating contest, under a plan approved Saturday by the Democratic National Committee.
The new calendar means Democrats will hold four nominating contests in January 2008, forcing the party's presidential hopefuls to expand their campaign efforts beyond the traditional proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire.
All other states will be allowed to hold caucuses and primaries beginning February 5.

The new calendar is designed to enhance the influence of hispanic and black voters on the process (New Hampshire and Iowa are infamous in Dem circles for their white majorities) and thus allegedly to make the eventual nominee more attractive to the whole Democratic base.

But the traditional "firsters" are not taking this lying down. Both Iowa and New Hampshire are threatening to change their own calendars to retain first-in-the-nation status. It may well lead to a high-profile (and somewhat silly) political war which may weaken Democrats in the 2008 run.