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Plan Endorsed for Same-Day West Primaries

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<i> From Associated Press</i>

Leaders from eight Western states voted Tuesday to hold presidential primaries on the same day beginning in 2000 in a bid to make the area a major part of the climb to the White House.

The plan approved by the Western Presidential Primary Task Force still needs approval from legislatures in each of the states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Under the proposal, all eight primaries would be held on the Saturday after the first Monday in March, placing them between coastal primaries in California and New York and Super Tuesday in the South. In 2000, the proposed Western primary would fall on March 11.

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“We see this having profound importance on the development of the West because it’s a means by which the voice of the West can be heard,” said Republican Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, co-chairman of the task force.

A major sticking point for the legislatures will be cost. Election laws would also have to be amended in most states.

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