HELENA - The race for the presidency began Thursday in Iowa, later in the month for New Hampshire and February 5th for several other states across the nation. And yet Montana's primary isn't until early June, making presidential nominations cast here virtually irrelevant.

State lawmakers voted down a bill during the past Legislative session to move Montana's primary up to February. "There was some resistance because of the price tag," explained Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson. "It costs about $1 million dollars to put on a statewide election in Montana and that primary would have been a new stand alone election. And the Legislature wasn't willing to appropriate the funds in order to support that."

State Republicans are taking things into their own hands, holding a Republican caucus on February 5th. As a binding decision, delegates are held to the state party's vote.

"About 3,000 folks from the Republican party will be eligible to participate in that," Johnson, a Republican, added. "That includes all of the precinct people in the state, statewide elected officials, county commissioners, that kind of grouping."

State Democrats say that while they believe it is important to make Montana's votes more relevant, they are not ready to abandon the way primaries have historically been done. Despite counting for very little, comparatively, in the national arena, Montana's primary election serves as a very integral part to state races.

"The primary actually is there fundamentally to nominate all the other candidates that are running for office. That's where we settle contested races for the Republican nomination for a legislative seat or for governor or for secretary of state."

The two state political parties may now handle presidential nominations differently, but party leaders do agree that February primaries are too early. They say the recent rush to the head of the line may be stifling the democratic process.