Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan is not a popular guy in New Hampshire. Duncan backed national party rules that stripped the traditional first-in-the-nation primary state of half its delegates to the national convention for holding a delegate-allocating nominating contest before the approved February 5 window, meaning the state's delegation should be cut from 24 to 12.

But the eventual Republican nominee will have some say in the matter. Nominees will help states pick members of various committees at the conventions, and in order to keep New Hampshire or any other state on their side, it's likely the eventual candidate will help all five states Republicans sanctioned get their full delegate slates back.

Incriminating evidence that candidates plan to overturn the national party's decision: Republican presidential candidates filed their delegate slates with New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner this week, and each one submitted 21 delegates and alternates. The Mitt Romney campaign went farther, filing 24 of each (other campaigns perhaps recalled that three delegate slots will be reserved for party chairman Fergus Cullen and the state's two RNC members, John DiStaso points out). Cullen even says some candidates have told him they'll seat the full delegation.

Another example of both national parties' impotence when trying to control the primary calendar.