Huntsman statement on Nevada caucuses date

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

Ending a dispute with the Granite State, Nevada has agreed to hold its Republican presidential caucuses on February 4--which appears to prevent the 2012 New Hampshire Primary from taking place in 2011.

Jon Huntsman, who boycotted this week's CNN debate in Las Vegas in a show of support for New Hampshire, issued a statement about Nevada's decision--and he tossed in a barb at Mitt Romney.

I applaud officials in Nevada for recognizing the importance of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. The fight to preserve New Hampshire's critical role in vetting presidential candidates should not be dismissed as just another political process story. It is vital that New Hampshire's primary be defended and the unique looking-glass it affords Americans be preserved.

Ultimately, Granite Staters wouldn't have had to struggle to keep their primary tradition intact if the Romney campaign, for its own advantage, did not attempt to game our democracy by lobbying states to move up their primary contests.

This isn't a victory for one candidate or one state, but a victory for the democratic process which values substance, authenticity and qualifications over slogans and sideshow theatrics that have attempted to dominate modern politics.

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