On April 7, the Republican Party announced that its 2008 presidential convention will be September 1-September 4. This is the latest major party presidential convention in U.S. history. The previous latest convention ever had been the Republican 2004 convention, Aug. 31-Sep. 3. Democrats last year had chosen their 2008 dates, Aug. 25-Aug. 28, 2008.
These late major party dates will make it even more difficult for states to justify early petition deadlines, since obviously states won’t be able to start printing November ballots until after September 4.
With this decision by the GOP, there is definitely no reason to force a date earlier than the last week of August or the 1st of September, 2008, for minor parties to finish submitting their petitions. This would be a few days earlier than the deadline for the GOP. But the difference would not be significant. Obviously, and taking into account what happened in 2002 with the Democrats in the Minnesotta and New Jersey Senate races, any political party could change their candidates closer to the election if it became necessary.