It's Tuesday, which always make me think about Election Day. But if you ask me right now when the Republican hopefuls for the White House will actually start vying for votes, the answer is still unclear.
The big flies in the calendar ointment right now are the same states that caused trouble back in 2008 - Florida and Michigan.
Both are pushing to hold their primaries before March 6, the earliest date that both parties want "other" states to hold their primaries or caucuses.
The "other" states for the two parties are those which have not been given featured status, as both Democrats and Republicans have set up a calendar where Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada get first crack in February - and then starting on March 6 - other states can jump in the fray.
Currently, Florida has its primary set for January 31, which would prompt those four states to move their events before that as well, repeating the 2008 scenario where Iowa and New Hampshire were over by January 8.
But there has been talk in recent days that Florida might opt for something along the lines of March 1-3, which would not require Iowa or New Hampshire to move their dates.
Michigan for now is set for February 28, which is also too early for the party schedules.
If Florida and Michigan were to move back to March 6 or later, then Iowa would hold its caucus on February 6, with New Hampshire's primary on February 14.
Just last week, the Secretary of State of Iowa flew to New Hampshire to meet his colleague in the Granite State, where the two talked about primary and caucus dates.
If you have forgotten how early things got started in 2008, I certainly haven't. The Iowa Caucus was on January 3 - the New Hampshire Primary on January 8.
But then we watched as the battle on the Democratic side stretched into June.
As for the 2012 calendar, while we don't know when Iowa and New Hampshire voters will cast their votes, we do know the date of the next big debate, which is August 11 in Iowa, before the Iowa Straw Poll.
