Will this decision put those two states in the GOP column in November of 2008?

The Democratic candidates have signed a pledge that would forbid them from campaigning in states such as Michigan and Florida that have sought to move their presidential primaries into January 2008.

Democratic leaders in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the four states that had been designated by the Democratic National Committee to hold early primaries, demanded in letters Friday that the candidates not participate in the early primaries of other states. The candidates either had to sign the pledge or risk annoying officials in those key states.

Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) and Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.), along with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, signed the pledge within hours on Friday. By yesterday, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, had joined them.

"We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process," Clinton's campaign said in a statement. "And we believe the DNC's rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role."

The best thing for the GOP to do at this point is to step aside and announce that it will not penalize the early states at the convention. It would then be very important for the GOP candidates to actively campaign in Michigan and Florida, indicating that they actually value the voice of the people of those states. That is part of a strategy for electoral victory in 2008 -- because after all, would you vote for any presidential candidate so beholden to special interests that he or she would refuse to even ask for your vote?

And while I agree with the NY Times that something needs to be done to rationalize the process, disenfranchising and ignoring voters is not the way to do so.

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