Romney camp urges earlier Utah primary

Utah advisers for Mitt Romney are pushing their home state to schedule an earlier 2012 presidential primary in the hopes of benefiting the former Massachusetts governor, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Romney's camp is making the case to Utah Republicans that pushing their primary back to before the present scheduled date of June 26, 2012 would afford their state a larger role in the nomination process. The nomination could well be effectively decided by late June, as was the case in the 2008 presidential cycle.

But a few things would have to happen to guarantee Romney--a Mormon who headed the 2002 Olympics in Utah--a boost from the primary calendar in the state.

Although polls show Romney is favored to carry Utah, he faces strong competition from former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is also Mormon. Romney still easily tops Huntsman in national and state polls, the Romney camp's early primary push in Utah is a clear bid to take on Huntsman and potentially diminish his momentum early in the campaign.

In order to move the primary, officials would also have to convince Utahns that a primary move is worth the expense. The Tribune estimates a separate new presidential primary would cost taxpayers between $2.5 million and $3 million. The current presidential primary date coincides with Utah's regularly scheduled statewide primary.

"Our priority was not to do what Mitt Romney thought was best. Our priority was to do what was best for Republicans and the state of Utah," GOP Chairman Thomas Wright told the newspaper. "What makes the most sense is not having the state pay for another primary."

Utah is just one of many states that may be considering scheduling earlier primaries in the hopes of playing a larger role in the presidential nominating process--a practice now known as "frontloading."

(George Frey/Getty Images)