Iowa Dems target Jan. 3 caucus date

— -- Iowa Democrats expect to set Jan. 3 for the party's presidential caucuses, joining Republicans on the date that would allow Iowa to launch the 2008 nominating season while keeping the contests in the election year.

The announcement Thursday that the Iowa Democratic Party's governing body planned to vote Sunday on the new date also satisfied New Hampshire elections officials, who have threatened to hold the state's primary as early as December.

The date would push the caucuses earlier than first planned. That's the result of pressure to maintain Iowa's first-in-the-nation status in the face of efforts by other states to share the attention the traditional leadoff states receive.

The Iowa Democratic Party's central committee plans to vote during an evening conference call Sunday. The recommendation by state party Chairman Scott Brennan is expected to be adopted, party officials said.

Brennan was traveling and could not be reached Thursday.

"I suspect that it will pass," said Sandy Opstvedt, a member of Iowa's central committee and the Democratic National Committee.

The development effectively eliminates the idea of the Democratic and GOP caucuses being held on separate days. That had been a possibility since last week when the Iowa GOP picked Jan. 3, while the Democrats remained on the date originally circled, Jan. 14.

However, it presses the caucuses up against the end of the holiday season and on the night of college football's Orange Bowl.

The new date also departs from the schedule set last year by the DNC, although Opstvedt and others said they expected party officials to waive penalties, which include stripping states of their nominating delegates.

Still unresolved is when New Hampshire will hold its primary. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner said Thursday that Iowa Democrats, by joining the Iowa GOP, would make it easier for him to schedule the primary in January, rather than December.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and Gov. Chet Culver, Iowa's ranking Democratic officials, had been in touch in recent weeks with Gardner, who had said he would schedule the primary no later than Jan. 8 but possibly as early as Dec. 11.