One problem is the political calendar, which increasingly includes more primaries earlier in the election.

The leaders acted six days before the scheduled start of the state's political calendar.

"The committee as a whole should not be guided by the political calendar."

But it is too late in the political calendar for a commission to do any good.

Driving the decision was the reality of the American political calendar.

In the British political calendar, that could have kept him in office until 2010.

But in a statement released by his office, he said the political calendar had pushed him to make an earlier decision.

So does the political calendar, with its crowded schedule of elections.

But the political calendar is adding a powerful new twist.

To understand how different 1988 is from 1960, one need only look at the political calendar.