By The Huffington Post News Editors

* Republicans consider shorter primary season, fewer debates
* Campaign finance laws encourage earlier conventions
* ‘Choreographed dance’ involves states as well as parties
By Samuel P. Jacobs
NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) – A Republican proposal to move up the date of the party’s presidential nominating convention to early summer in 2016 – instead of the end of August – could trigger a similar move by Democrats, officials in that party said on Wednesday.
Seeking to avoid a repeat of the nasty primary race that damaged eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney last year, the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a report this week that it might shorten its primary season for the next presidential election.
For Republican contenders, that could mean a more compact schedule of state primaries and caucuses, fewer candidate debates (there were 20 spread over nine months in 2011-2012), and a national convention in late June or early July.
Party officials say a big reason for changing the schedule would be to identify a Republican nominee earlier to take fuller advantage of campaign finance laws that prevent a candidate from spending funds earmarked for the November election until the candidate becomes a party’s official nominee.
Such a change by Republicans for 2016 could lead Democrats to move their convention to early summer as well, state Democratic leaders said.
“The party that gets their (presidential) nominee out for six weeks, eight weeks early would have an advantage,” said Dick Harpootlian, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. “I think there would be significant pressure” to move up the Democratic convention.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), which will review the 2016 calendar in September, plans to closely watch the RNC as it determines its schedule this spring.
“It is a choreographed dance that includes the RNC, the DNC, and of course, the states,” said Ray Buckley, head of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post