Southern states push for early primaries

The Washington Post today reports that Southern states figure in a Democratic Party plan to add several presidential primaries and caucuses to the early rounds traditionally dominated by Iowa and New Hampshire.

The commission faces a weekend deadline to approve a plan that responds to party criticisms that Iowa and New Hampshire have enjoyed their privileged positions for too long and that more demographic, geographic and economic diversity is needed to make the nominating process more representative.

These considerations make sense as recent census figures indicate that Southern states continue to gain population relative to the rest of the nation.