2012 Primary Calendar

(UPDATED: November 20, 2011)
This is the latest version of the GOP Primary/Caucus Calendar for 2012.

The race to decide who will be the Republican challenger to Barack Obama begins immediately after the holiday season. Already candidates are spending plenty of time in places like Iowa.

January
January 3, 2012 Iowa (caucus)
January 10, 2012 New Hampshire (primary)
January 21, 2012 South Carolina (primary)
January 31, 2012 Florida (primary)

February
February 4, 2012 Nevada (caucus)
February 4–11, 2012 Maine (caucus)
February 7, 2012 Colorado (caucus), Minnesota (caucus)
February 28, 2012 Arizona (primary), Michigan (primary)

March
March 3, 2012 Washington (caucus)
March 6, 2012 (Super Tuesday)
Alaska (caucus)
Georgia (primary)
Idaho (caucus)
Massachusetts (primary)
North Dakota (caucus)
Oklahoma (primary)
Tennessee (primary)
Texas (primary)
Vermont (primary)
Virginia (primary)
March 6-10, 2012 Wyoming (caucus)
March 10, 2012 Kansas (caucus), U.S. Virgin Islands (caucus)
March 13, 2012 Alabama (primary), Hawaii (caucus), Mississippi (primary)
March 17, 2012 Missouri (caucus)
March 20, 2012 Illinois (primary)
March 24, 2012 Louisiana (primary)

April
April 3, 2012 Maryland (primary), Washington, D.C. (primary), Wisconsin (primary)
April 24, 2012 Connecticut (primary), Delaware (primary), New York (primary), Pennsylvania (primary), Rhode Island (primary)

May
May 8, 2012 Indiana (primary), North Carolina (primary), West Virginia (primary)
May 15, 2012 Nebraska (primary), Oregon (primary)
May 22, 2012 Arkansas (primary), Kentucky (primary)

June
June 5, 2012 California (primary), Montana (primary), New Jersey (primary), New Mexico (primary), South Dakota (primary)
June 12, 2012 Ohio (primary)
June 26, 2012 Utah (primary)

The Democratic Primaries are still on some calendars, but I'm not going to bother to list them here. President Obama will definitely be nominated again at the convention so there's no point in wasting time dealing with the primaries.

The real contest is going to be watching how the Republicans try to out-crazy each other. My prediction is that the nominee is eventually going to be Mitt Romney. He will appeal to the less-nutty faction of the party, which I think actually represents the majority.