To boost diversity in presidential nominating votes, they put Nevada's and South Carolina's sooner.

WASHINGTON – Move over Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina are now members of the Democratic Party's "early nominators" club.

By adding new states to its early roster of presidential nominating contests, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) aims to add racial and geographic diversity to the selection process.

Under the plan, adopted over the weekend in Chicago, Iowa will still hold the very first event - party caucuses - and New Hampshire will keep its traditional first primary in the nation. But Nevada will squeeze its caucuses into the eight-day gap between Iowa and New Hampshire, and South Carolina will hold primaries as soon as a week after New Hampshire. If all the state parties cooperate, these contests could end up taking place in a time frame as tight as 15 days in January 2008.

Christian Science Monitor article