Democrats ratify new presidential nominating calendar

CHICAGO (CNN) -- Nevada and South Carolina will join Iowa and New Hampshire as the kickoff states for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominating contest, under a plan approved Saturday by the Democratic National Committee.

The new calendar means Democrats will hold four nominating contests in January 2008, forcing the party's presidential hopefuls to expand their campaign efforts beyond the traditional proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire.

All other states will be allowed to hold caucuses and primaries beginning February 5. The DNC approved the new calendar by a voice vote.

The calendar change was opposed by New Hampshire Democrats, who charge that it violates their state law by placing a similar presidential contest within the seven-day buffer zone that Granite State law requires.

And Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, warned that frontloading the calendar prevents Democrats from other states the opportunity in helping choose the party's presidential nominee.

"This is going to result in four states nominating our presidential candidate in 2008," Sullivan told CNN. "It makes Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina very important, and while I appreciate feeling made to be important, I don't think the voters of four states should make that decision."

Sullivan also suggested that Saturday's vote will not be the final say on the matter.

New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner is charged with setting the state's primary date, and Sullivan said she expects him to do so in November 2007. Sullivan acknowledged that she does not know what Gardner will eventually do, but the secretary of state has already stated he intends to enforce New Hampshire law.

"Right now the calendar is not set," Sullivan said. "What happened today is irrelevant to New Hampshire."

But supporters of the new plan said that placing Nevada and South Carolina in the early part of the calendar will ensure that more diverse voices are involved in helping choose the Democratic nominee.

Iowa and New Hampshire have large white populations, while 23 percent of Nevada's population is Hispanic, and blacks make up 29 percent of South Carolina's population.

"It covers a larger part of the country with greater diversity earlier on in the calendar where a candidate can show strength, a more cross sectional type strength, because of the diversity," Waring Howe Jr., a DNC member from South Carolina, told CNN. "Not just the racial but the geographic and economic diversity."

The calendar adopted by the DNC has Iowa holding the first contest, a caucus, on January 14. Nevada would follow with a caucus on January 19, the New Hampshire primary on January 22 and the South Carolina primary on January 29.

The DNC also approved a measure that would deny a presidential candidate delegates if that state did not honor this new calendar and the candidate continued to campaign in that state. Actions constituting a violation include making personal appearances, hiring campaign workers and buying advertising.

The Republican Party does not plan to alter its presidential primary calendar.

Bush grants "Deliverance" to former Georgia moonshiner

By Robert Yoon

CNN Political Research Director

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush did not make history in the

Ford-pardons-Nixon sense with his latest batch of presidential pardons announced earlier this week. He did, however, earn the unique distinction of being the first president to grant a pardon to a cast member of the Academy Award-nominated movie "Deliverance."

Randall Leece Deal of Clayton, Georgia, played one of the Griner brothers in the 1972 film about four Atlanta businessmen who have unpleasant encounters with the locals during a North Georgia canoe trip. The roles of the businessmen were played by Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ronny Cox, and Ned Beatty.

Deal's only line in the movie: "It ain't nothing but the biggest f..ing

river in the state!" For the record, Deal did not play one of the surlier locals involved in an infamous scene with Beatty.

Before his big break in the movies, Deal was in his twenties in the early 1960s when he was charged and convicted on two counts of violating liquor laws, acts commonly known as "moonshining," and one count of conspiring to violate liquor laws.

"That really wasn't true," Deal told CNN of the conspiracy charge. "But anyway, that's what they charged us with."

Moonshining was a common practice in the area in the 1960s, Deal said. He also points out that he was not in it for the money, but was more interested in the fun and comradery of the enterprise.

"I was just helping some friends back then," he said. "It was really just more like a game than anything, to be honest with you. It wasn't a big business deal, fiddling with moonshine. At least to me it wasn't."

Deal never served any jail time for the convictions, but the black mark on his record rankled him enough to seek a presidential pardon over 40 years later.

"I just got to thinking about it, you know. Just to get her wiped out if possible," he said.

Deal hired a local attorney and "just filled out the papers and sent it in to the White House, or wherever you send them to, a good long time ago."

The Justice Department announced his pardon on Wednesday, and Deal first heard the news when reporters started contacting him that afternoon at his home in Clayton.

"I really didn't have an idea what kind of a deal it would be," he said. "But evidently it's a pretty big old deal to get one."

Deal defies the image of the well-connected, deep-pocketed presidential pardon recipient like controversial financier Marc Rich, who received one of President Clinton's final pardons in 2001. According to Federal Election Commission records, Deal has never made a federal political contribution. When asked if he had any special political connections with the White House, he laughed and said, "Oh no. No sir. None whatsoever."

But he did describe himself as a supporter of President Bush, pardon or no pardon. Although the pardon doesn't hurt.

"Well, you know, somebody does something for you, it should help your opinion of them, shouldn't it?" he asked. "Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?"

These days, Deal, now 66, works at the local sheriff's office, and just celebrated his 16th anniversary there on Wednesday, the same day his pardon was announced. He said his movie career is long behind him. His only post-"Deliverance" acting role was in the little-known 1982 film "Trapped," which he calls "just a little old bitty thing. Nothing to mention." He does still receive the occasional residual check for his brief acting career, each check usually no more than a few dollars.

Also long behind him are his moonshining days.

"There isn't really much of that around here anymore," he said. "In fact, I was thinking here a minute ago, and I believe practically everybody I helped (make moonshine) is dead."

A temporary hiatus

As the summer draws to a close, the Grind is going on a temporary hiatus and will return on Tuesday, September 5. Continue to tune into CNN, Headline News and cnn.com for the latest breaking news.

DAYAHEAD/Events making news today

• President Bush has no public schedule.

• The Senate is in recess until September 5, 2006. The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook: http://www.senate.gov/galleries/radiotv/list.htm

• The House is in recess until September 6. The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook: http://radiotv.house.gov/news-events.aspx

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