Who is Bill Gardner?

I called the New Hampshire Democratic Party today as I was searching for authoritative information on when the New Hampshire Primary would be held. Yes - you read that right, the New Hampshire primary date has not yet been set!

A quick search on Wikipedia showed that the New Hampshire primary date is still blank.

It's important to CasaBlanca Project volunteers for many reasons. First, because some volunteers and organizers may be planning trips up to Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and other early primary states. Second, because after two years of heavy struggle, and finally achieving the success of having a state with a significant Latino population scheduled as the second state in the nation to hold a caucus (Nevada), the consensus in the media is that New Hampshire is about to change their date to January 8, between Iowa and Michigan, leaving Nevada fourth!

Once again, Latinos would be left out of the picture, not adding their voice to the early (and most important) part of the process of choosing the nominee of our Democratic Party for the general election of 2008.

I spoke with a polite and efficient member of the staff there, who informed me that the Democratic and Republican primaries are held on a date announced by the Secretary of State, Bill Gardner.

I then called the Secretary of State's office and spoke with a member of their staff, who explained the process: Bill Gardner will determine a date of his liking, and then announce this date to the media. Apparently, in New Hampshire, one man makes this choice. A choice which will affect diversity in the nominating process, timing of the primaries, and ultimately affect the way in which millions of people will participate.