Utah paper: Romney pushing for earlier primary

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, campaign outside a Hires Big H Drive-in Salt Lake City last week. Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP

By Glen Johnson

June 28, 2011

1 minute to read

Mitt Romney has already made clear he will not be placing as much emphasis on the 2012 Iowa caucuses as he did when he lost them in 2008, pulling out of the Iowa Straw Poll in August to avoid a showdown with native Michele Bachmann and neighbor Tim Pawlenty.

The Republican presidential contender has also made clear the primacy he’s attaching to New Hampshire, kicking off his second White House campaign earlier this month in the first primary state.

Afterward, he’s looking for success not as much in South Carolina but Nevada.

Now comes word he may be seeking support elsewhere in the Mountain West.

The Salt Lake Tribune had a story yesterday saying that Romney’s Utah advisers are trying to move up that state’s primary from late June 2012 to earlier in the spring so it has more impact on determining the party’s nominee.

“If the Romney camp is successful, it could set up an early showdown between Romney, chief of the 2002 Olympics in Utah, and former Governor Jon Huntsman in Huntsman’s old backyard — and it is a contest that, according to recent statewide polls, Romney would likely win,’’ the newspaper wrote.

The cost of making such a switch is pegged at $3 million, a price that could help make the state a political player but has some critics questioning that use of taxpayer money.

Both Romney and Huntsman were in Utah last week, raising money for their respective campaigns and jockeying support in their state at the center of their shared Mormon faith.