In two weeks from today, the South Dakota legislature will begin its work. One of the issues will be whether to move South Dakota's 2008 presidential primary to an earlier date so that many of the candidates will visit the state and South Dakota's voice can be heard. In 2008, both parties will be picking a candidate. In addition to the fun politics involved, the campaigns will surely spend lots of money at South Dakota businesses. Let's remember how the New York Times thought the last early primary in South Dakota was a success:
February 23, 1988
HEADLINE: DAKOTA STRATEGY PROVES A SUCCESS
By WILLIAM E. SCHMIDT, Special to the New York Times
When the South Dakota Legislature shifted the state's Presidential primary to February from June, political leaders hoped to make the state an important - and more widely noticed - arena for Republican and Democratic contenders.
Now, on the eve of South Dakota's first such early primary, the strategy has borne fruit, at least among the Democrats.
Two Democrats, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, have entered the final hours of the campaign apparently locked in a close contest for first place. Both men have invested heavily in South Dakota, expecting that a victory here Tuesday would give their campaigns momentum for next month's 20 contests on Super Tuesday.
Indeed, the primary here has attracted the entire Democratic field in recent days, including a big advertising push by Senator Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee, whose commercials are blanketing the state, and a last-ditch blitz by Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, who needs a victory somewhere if he is to keep his flagging Presidential campaign alive.
Among Republicans, however, the battle for South Dakota ended early. Last week Vice President Bush canceled his remaining television spots and all but conceded victory in the party's primary to Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who had been expected to win here anyway.
That decision angered some of the Vice President's supporters in the state, and Mr. Dole, who defeated Mr. Bush in the Iowa caucuses early this month, used the occasion to accuse the Vice President of turning his back on the Middle West.
...
Last Wednesday, Mr. Gephardt received the endorsement of Senator Tom Daschle, one of the state's most popular politicians. At the same time, his campaign began a blitz of television advertising, including a spot that, in purporting to compare Mr. Gephardt and Mr. Dukakis, ridicules the Massachusetts' Governor's knowledge of farming.
Specifically, the spot recalls a remark made by Mr. Dukakis nearly a year ago, when he suggested that farmers in the Midwestern grain belt might do like some farmers in the Northeast and consider growing blueberries, flowers and Belgian endive as alternative crops.
For Mr. Simon, a lot is riding on his finish in South Dakota and Minnesota. Last week, after a third-place finish in New Hampshire, he said he needed to win one of Tuesday's contests if he were going to keep his campaign alive.
Although he later withdrew that statement, his campaign officials here say the state is important. ''There is a lot at stake for him,'' said George Cunningham, Mr. Simon's campaign manager here. ''You've got to win somewhere.''
My esteemed colleague Dr. Schaff has an opposite view, expressing concerns about frontloading the primaries. Like Fox News, we report, you decide.
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