Under current Missouri law, the 2012 presidential primary will be in early February. The two major parties have said they won’t recognize primaries that early, except for the New Hampshire and South Carolina presidential primaries. So Missouri Senator Kevin Engler introduced SB 282, to move Missouri’s presidential primary to March.
However, on March 16, the Missouri Senate voted for an amendment to the bill, to move the presidential primary to one week after the New Hampshire primary. The vote on the amendment was 16-14. Senator Engler opposed the motion. In effect, his bill has been altered against his wishes. The bill will be on third reading in the Senate next week. In the meantime, HB 503 in the House sets up a March presidential primary, and has passed all the House committees, but is not set for a vote in the House.
In 2008, the New Hampshire presidential primary was on January 8. No one knows when it will be in 2012. The New Hampshire Secretary of State has authority to set the date, without input from the legislature. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this news.