CONCORD – Florida's primary is inching closer to New Hampshire.

Gov. Charlie Crist made it official yesterday by signing a bill that sets Florida's Presidential primary on Jan. 29, 2008, vaulting ahead of a dozen states holding primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

And what does Secretary of State Bill Gardner, guardian of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status think?

He's OK with it.

"I understand what they're doing, I understand why they're doing it and that's OK," Gardner said yesterday. Florida's primary previously was scheduled for March. Supporters of an earlier primary argued Florida should have more influence in choosing a presidential nominee, given its size and diverse population.

The Democratic National Committee wants New Hampshire to hold its primary on Jan. 22, three days before caucuses in Nevada, but that's not likely to happen. Over the years New Hampshire lawmakers have armed Gardner with tools to protect the state's first-primary status. State law requires Gardner to set New Hampshire's primary one week before any similar election. If it comes to it, he has authority to schedule the primary in the calendar year before a general election.

So as other states keep creeping forward, Gardner good-naturedly repeats what he has said before - he'll wait until at least fall to pick a date, if not later.

"I don't expect it to be any different at this point," he said in a telephone interview.

South Carolina's primary hasn't been scheduled yet, and that traditionally has followed New Hampshire as the first presidential primary of the South, Gardner said.

But back to Florida.

Gardner, a primary historian, said a bigger threat came from Florida in 1971, when its lawmakers voted to hold a primary on the same day as New Hampshire's. That prompted New Hampshire lawmakers to react to protect its first-in-the-nation status.

Gardner said Jan. 29 is nothing like 1971.

"They have been pretty consistent that this legislation is not an attempt to diminish our tradition, an early small state tradition, and that's been said quite a bit down there," he said.

Portsmouth State Rep. Jim Splaine helped write the laws that keep New Hampshire's primary first. While Gardner won't tell anyone which dates he's considering, Splaine predicts the primary will happen as early as Jan. 8 - six days before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14, and no later than Jan. 15.

"We're going to be first. State law guarantees it. It makes New Hampshire all the more important," he said.

With so many contests following packed closely together, candidates have to be strategic about where they campaign and spend money, he said.

"I think it makes the New Hampshire primary all that much more relevant and important because ours is going to be the first," Splaine said.

"Candidates know they have to do well in New Hampshire," Splaine said.