Presidential Primary Leapfog Game Continues

  Many of us Sooner conservatives are "keeping our powder dry" and doing our best to inform ourselves on all the presumed candidates for 2016's presidential sweepstakes. But the process looks to be much different in the 2016 version of GOP presidential primaries.

  New York appears to be bullying her way into early influence with a likely move to early February. But the midwest & mountain states countered with caucus plans which offer a Tea Party darling more delegates than the Empire State. Two  weeks later, the Carolinas are synchronizing for candidates to stick around for a while, in the lower Appalachians. 

  The biggest event is where Oklahoma and other southern states are building a huge Super Tuesday prize on March 1st. Texas moves into prominence along with Florida. These huge prizes have returned to the original strategy of the southern states which first contrived the Super Tuesday concept as a way for southern Democrat states to keep an eastern liberal from winning the DNC nominaton. While it did produce a Bill Clintion, it ultimately shaped RNC strategies more than the Democrat party who created it in the mid 80s.
  By mid March, the process will be in the cleanup stage (if not earlier). 23 state processes will have spoken and 50% of the delegates will be pledged.

Republican Delegate Allocation
date	event	pledged	unpledged		strategy
January, Mon., Jan. 18	Iowa caucuses*		30		All early candidates spend a year courting voters
Tuesday, January 26	New Hampshire*	18	3		All early candidates spend a year courting voters
February, Tue., Feb. 2	New York*	92	3		All early candidates spend a year courting voters The last 2 weeks will be a time of huge shift, as Iowa & New Hampshire results lead to coalesce of support for top candidates.Tea Party favorites may skip New York in favor of Feb 2 Western prizes
	Minnesota caucuses		38
	Colorado caucuses	37
	Utah	40
Saturday, February 6	Nevada caucuses*	30
Saturday, February 13	South Carolina*	50			A week after the east/west split, the Carolinas will be a big showdown for frontrunner, but Michigan has all candidates attention for a week prior to the Southern juggernaut of Super Tuesday
Tuesday, February 16	North Carolina*	68	3
Tuesday, February 23	Michigan	56	3
March, Tue., March 1	Texas	150	3		Southern prizes will likely determine the inevitable nominee At the conclusion over 40% of the RNC  delegates will be committed
	Florida	99
	Virginia	46	3
	Tennessee	53	3
	Colorado caucuses	37
	Oklahoma	38	3
	Massachusetts	39	3
	Vermont	16
Saturday, March 5	Louisiana	20	26		Southern states continue to dominate the primary calendar, giving a big impact on the choice of nominee.
Tuesday, March 8	Ohio	62	3
	Alabama	47	3
	Mississippi	36	3
	Hawaii Rep. caucuses	16	3
Sunday, March 13	Puerto Rico	20	3
Tuesday, March 15	Illinois	57	12
	Missouri	49	3
Tuesday, March 22	Arizona	58
April, Tue., April 5	Wisconsin	41
	Maryland	38
	District of Columbia	16	3
Tuesday, April 26	Pennsylvania		71
	Connecticut	25	3
	Delaware	16
	Rhode Island	16	3
May, Tuesday, May 3	Indiana	27	30
Tuesday, May 10	Nebraska	33	3
	West Virginia	28	3
Tuesday, May 17	Kentucky	42	3
	Oregon	25	3
Tuesday, May 24	Arkansas	37	3
	Washington	40	3
June, Tues., June 7	Idaho	32
	California	169	3
	New Jersey	50
	Montana		27
	South Dakota	24	3
	New Mexico	19	3
(no set date)	Georgia	76
	Kansas	40
	Maine		23
	Wyoming		27
Total:		2021	425

For more info about the constantly- changing process of setting state presidential events, see: http://frontloading.blogspot.com/p/2016-presidential-primary-calendar.html

David Van Risseghem