As many as seven southern states are looking to join together to create a Southern Super Tuesday toward the beginning of the presidential primary calendar, creating a key new focal point for the 2016 GOP presidential primaries.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Georgia's Secretary of State Brian Kemp is working to put together a coalition of states that would agree to hold a regional primary on March 1. Texas and Florida, the second and third most populous states, have agreed to be included. And Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas are also on board.
Kemp said the coalition would give the South "more bang for our buck."
Non-southern states would not be excluded.
The timetable could work to the advantage of well-funded candidates who can afford expensive media markets and who have ties to the region, the Journal said.
Potential candidates who could benefit because of ties to those states include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the Journal said.
The effect could also boost the importance for candidates of securing early wins in the less-costly contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
"Texas will be the 800-pound gorilla in 2016," Texas Republican Chairman Steve Munisteri told the Journal. "It's a big, early prize, and it will put a premium on those that have name recognition in the state, money, and a political base."
The jostling among states for their place in the primary order happens every election cycle, but unlike 2008 and 2012, few if any states so far will start before the March 1 date set by the two parties' leaders, the Journal said.
Nevertheless, the order of the GOP primaries and caucuses could have a significant impact on the eventual nominee, particularly when the field is so crowded, giving an advantage to those who gain momentum with early wins.
Iowa will
retain its prime spot in kicking off the presidential campaign season after voting Saturday to continue the party's August straw poll, in addition to the state being first in the nation for its nominating caucus.
After the 2012 election, the Republican National Committee
changed the rules of the primary calendar to consolidate the nominating process.
The earliest contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada are sanctioned to be scheduled in February, rather than January, and the party's national convention may be moved to June instead of its traditionally scheduled August date.
The RNC also created
stiffer penalties for states that decide to schedule their elections before March.
"The confluence of southern states voting early could give a leg up to Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Santorum, who won the Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee primaries in 2012. Mr. Huckabee and Ben Carson, another possible candidate, own homes in Florida," the Journal said.
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