Secretary of State William Gardner promised yesterday he will not allow the traditional key role of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation Presidential primary to be diminished by a proposed Democratic National Committee rule change.

The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee voted 23-3 to push New Hampshire to third place in the 2008 Presidential nominating lineup. The vote recommended that the full DNC authorize an additional caucus between Iowa's leadoff caucus and the New Hampshire primary and an additional primary after New Hampshire's contest but before Feb. 5, 2008.

State law allows Gardner to jump the date of the primary ahead of any "similar election" scheduled less than seven days after the primary.

Gardner also interprets that law as a broader legislative mandate for him to protect the primary from any attempt to diminish its traditional key impact on national Presidential politics.

An additional caucus, besides Iowa's, ahead of the primary may trigger the law and force an earlier date, regardless of party rules that say state Democrats may lose some of their convention delegates.

Gardner has said often in the past that he will move up the date if he deems it necessary, and he did not back away from that position yesterday.

"Various people have tried for years to diminish the influence of our primary, but insiders can't control that," Gardner said shortly after the rules committee vote.

"We have dealt with this over the years and will continue to do so," he said. "But in the end, we're not going to let the primary be diminished, and the Legislature has provided the tools to make sure that as a state, we have the traditional primary that we have had."

The rules committee will choose which states will be moved to the new early slots at a meeting July 22 and 23 in Washington. Ten states and the District of Columbia have applied.

The rules panel will also decide in July precisely when those events should be held. An advisory committee has recommended that the first contest, in Iowa, be held on Jan. 14.

The completed plan will then move to the full DNC for ratification in August.

The rules committee had been reviewing the now-defunct advisory commission's recommendation to allow one or two states to hold contests between Iowa and New Hampshire's events, and one or two states to hold primaries immediately after New Hampshire.

The commission stated in a December 2005 report that "Iowa and New Hampshire do not represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the party or the nation."

Party insiders

Gov. John Lynch said the rules committee "made some progress" by limiting the additional early states to two, instead of three or four.

But he said, "This fight isn't over," and he promised to "support fully any decision (Gardner) makes to protect New Hampshire's primary, including moving up the date."

Lynch also took aim at the DNC and its chairman, 2004 Presidential candidate and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

"Unfortunately, a small group of party insiders seems more intent on undermining a Presidential nominating tradition that has worked well for 50 years," Lynch said. "Even more unfortunate is that (Dean), who never would have had the opportunity to be considered a serious Presidential contender without the New Hampshire primary, is supporting their efforts."

GOP candidate for governor Jim Coburn said Lynch "has not provided leadership by failing to protect" the primary.

Rules committee supporters of yesterday's motion said that adding only two states in total — instead of three or four — to the early voting schedule was a compromise honoring New Hampshire and Iowa's traditional dual role while bringing more racial, ethnic, geographic and economic diversity to the front of the nominating process.

Hartina Flournoy of Washington, D.C., who made the motion said adding only two states to the early voting will not seriously exacerbate "front-loading" the calendar so that the nominee is chosen within weeks of the first contest, and still addresses the party's goal of "inclusiveness."

Front-loading

New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Kathy Sullivan was among only three members of the 26 committee members in attendance to oppose the plan.

She cited New Hampshire law and also said the proposal will cause the 2008 calendar to be "more front-loaded than ever before. Crunching four events into 18 days forces candidates to pick and choose, rather than participating in all four," Sullivan said.

"If the goal is to have a broad national referendum with a full contingent of candidates, this proposal, combined with the timing of the pre-window, is not going to reach the goal the committee is trying to reach," she said.

Sullivan said scheduling four events between Jan. 14 and Feb. 5, 2008 "can't work without violating Iowa's law that nothing be held within eight days of the caucus or New Hampshire's law," which mandates a seven-day period between the primary and a subsequent "similar election."

Sullivan held the proxy yesterday for Iowa Democratic Chair and Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson, who did not attend the meeting. In past votes, Iowans on the rules committee and the advisory calendar commission had voted with the majority and against New Hampshire.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who is considering running for President, was questioned closely about Iowa's position while in New Hampshire last week. He promised to look into the issue more closely.

Michigan Democratic Chair Mark Brewer opposed the plan, but because he believed that more early states should be included in order to address the "regional, ethnic, economic diversity" the committee hopes to achieve.

Michigan's officials prompted the entire review of the nominating calendar and have vigorously opposed allowing New Hampshire and Iowa to retain what they have called "privileged" positions.

Dems speak

Mame Reilly of Virginia, who heads potential Presidential hopeful Mark Warner's political action committee, said the plan could "accomplish the diversity and regional goals, and is somewhat of a compromise for the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire."

Janice Griffin of Maryland called it "very reasonable," and David McDonald of Washington state called it "the most expeditious way to move forward."

Thomas Hynes of Illinois said the plan "is the best we can do here because it does give us the ability to increase diversity of representation in the early primaries and at the same time, there's some minimizing of frontloading."

Ralph Dawson of New York said the extra caucus and primary will provide the party with "the diversity we want to achieve."

Denise King of New York said, "It is wise to take a small step first."

Donald Fowler of South Carolina, who has called for no change in the calendar, abstained.