Iowa Republican & Democratic Committees begin to plan for January 3, 2012 caucuses (Presidential Voting)

from Des Moines Register reporting (caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/ )

Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn wanted to wait to talk about the Jan. 3, 2012 date publicly until Monday October 10, 2011 as a courtesy to officials involved with ongoing talks with New Hampshire, Ivers said.
Strawn said on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press on Friday Oct. 7 that he wasn’t prepared to talk about a specific date but reiterated that state GOP leadership will do everything possible to keep the caucuses in January.
Iowa Democratic Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky, also appearing on Iowa Press, said Democrats “absolutely” would hold their caucuses on the same day.
“While we don’t have a nominating contest, what we have is the necessity of organizing Democrats across the state,” Dvorsky said. Iowa Republican and Democratic leaders traditionally have worked together to help keep Iowa’s caucuses first in the nation.
Iowa and New Hampshire have argued that they offer an ideal platform for grass-roots candidates to test the waters with low-budget, retail campaigns. Critics say that the process gives too much influence to Iowa and New Hampshire and that the early-voting privilege should be shared among other states.
This year’s calendar chaos is largely attributed to Florida’s decision last month (September 2011) to break Republican Party rules and set its primary on Jan. 31, ahead of Iowa’s scheduled Feb. 6 caucuses.
That move unleashed a chain reaction from the nation’s four early voting states. South Carolina’s primary is now set for Jan. 21 rather than Feb. 28, and Nevada on Wednesday set its primary for Jan. 14 instead of Feb. 18