Lost in the publicity about early presidential primaries is the fact that the District of Columbia holds the nation’s earliest presidential primaries. For 2008, the Democratic, Republican and Green Parties will all have a presidential primary on January 8. The major party primaries are just beauty contests; no delegates are actually selected. Republicans in D.C. start their Delegate selection process in a caucus on February 12; the D.C. Democratic caucus is on February 9.