By Dan McCue

The S.C. Republican Party is expected to announce today that it is rescheduling its primary to Jan. 19, 2008, in response to the state of Florida’s decision to challenge the Palmetto State’s status as the first-in-the-South primary in next year’s presidential contest.

S.C. Republican chairman Katon Dawson is scheduled to make the announcement at 11 a.m. at a news conference in Concord, N.H. The setting is important because New Hampshire and Iowa must now schedule earlier contests to preserve their first-in-the-nation status.

Dawson will be joined at his press conference by William M. Gardner, New Hampshire’s secretary of state.

New Hampshire requires a week in between its first-in-the nation primary and the next primary, so it will have to move up its contest, which was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22 under a timetable set by the Democratic National Committee.

The acceleration of the presidential selection process was kicked into disarray on May 3 when the Florida Legislature voted to move that state's primary to Jan. 29, four days before the date for which South Carolina Republicans had planned their primary.

The state party immediately vowed that South Carolina would keep its first-in-the-South status.

The move would not affect the South Carolina Democratic primary, which is still scheduled for Jan. 29.