Projo Politics Blog

The good news is that it appears that Rhode Island will not be completely forgotten in the coming presidential primary season.

Representatives of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans candidates filed the necessary paperwork with the secretary of state’s office Friday afternoon to ensure they will have a spot on the Ocean State’s primary ballot on March 4. There were no surprises, as all the major candidates were represented.

The bad news, however, is that each party’s nomination is likely to be locked up by the time March comes around; 36 states will have held their primaries by the time Rhode Island voters head to the polls. A proposal that would have moved the state’s primary up to Feb. 5 (a.k.a. Super Tuesday) failed during the General Assembly’s fall special session.

Still, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis was encouraged that the candidates probably won’t skip Rhode Island altogether.

“This shows that presidential campaigns are not discounting Rhode Island. Apparently the candidates believe the nominations will still be in play. Rhode Island is important enough so they are not taking any chances,” Mollis said in a statement.

The Republicans candidates who submitted paperwork are (in alphabetical order): Hugh Cort, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo and Fred Thompson. The Democrats are Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Ray Stebbins and Rosemary Turner.

While each campaign filed statements of intent Friday, that’s no guarantee they’ll be on Rhode Island’s ballot. Each must file nomination papers with the signatures of 1,000 eligible state voters by Dec. 26.

 

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