GFR in TAP Online, “Early Caucus Date Could Hurt Dems in Iowa”:

The compression of the primary calendar could seriously damage the ability of students to participate in the Iowa caucuses in January, say students and political observers in the state. Traditionally held in the middle or toward the end of January, this year the caucuses, which kick off the presidential primary calendar for both parties, are scheduled for Jan. 14, a day when most colleges and universities in the state will still be on winter recess.

“Christmas vacation ends a week after the January 14 caucuses,” Des Moines’ Drake University Democrats president Jordan Oster, 20, noted after catching New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month. “That’s definitely a big concern….[in 2004] people got back onto campus the weekend before the caucuses.”

“The earlier date just makes it more difficult for everybody,” he added.

It will also make it difficult for any political campaign that is relying on student organizers to drive older voters to the caucus sites, go door-knocking in the weeks before the caucuses, or win student precincts based on simple spill-over effects from younger Iowans’ general enthusiasm for their candidate.

You can read the whole thing here.