Early primary states are tripping over each other to boost their influence on next year's presidential schedule. Yesterday the Illinois state House voted overwhelmingly to hold the state's primary on Feb. 5, six weeks earlier than the previous date. In Florida, the state GOP chair came out in support of a state Senate bill that would move the primary to the same week as New Hampshire's -- a tentative date of Jan. 29.

For the second time in as many weeks the Nevada GOP is considering moving its caucus date, this time to the same day Democrats will caucus, Jan. 19. Michigan's GOP chief e-mailed his party yesterday to ask what its members thought about moving the primary date to before Feb. 5 due to pressure from Florida and South Carolina.

An even earlier primary will be held on midnight this Saturday when first-quarter fundraising ends, but the Politico's Kenneth Vogel and Jeanne Cummings write that the totals are "unlikely to fundamentally scramble the leader board of either party, an outcome that will surely increase pressure on them to keep up the pace in the next quarter." Meanwhile, John Edwards received $540,000 worth of Internet donations in the week following his wife's cancer announcement. The Hill reports that while Sen. Barack Obama has prohibited contributions from lobbyists and PACs, he's building a network of lobbyists to give him policy and campaign advice.

Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to stitch up support of her own. Yesterday she got the National Organization of Women's endorsement and over the past few months she's managed to corral New Hampshire Democrats. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes that "no success is larger -- and more unnoticed -- than the campaign team Clinton has recruited" in the state, which is "far superior" to the organizations built by Obama and Edwards. It doesn't mean she's a "shoo-in" to win, but "it does mean is that those observers predicting Clinton's downfall already are vastly misreading the reality on the ground."

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised eyebrows by "inserting himself into the central debate" of the race by casting Democratic Iraq legislation as irresponsible, reports the New York Sun's Jill Gardiner. Bloomberg has "publicly said he does not plan to run for president, but many say he is taking a wait-and-see approach behind closed doors."

Sen. John McCain also used Iraq politically by addressing Obama at a Florida campaign stop. "If Senator Obama could take a few minutes out of his day to examine the early progress made by General Petraeus, I think he would realize the status quo is changing," McCain said. Elsewhere, McCain's campaign is denying multiple Democrats' claims that he considered defecting to their party in 2001, The Hill reports.

Chief McCain rival Rudy Giuliani glad-handed shoppers in Nevada yesterday who gave him a warm reception. Giuliani also accepted Steve Forbes' endorsement and embraced his signature flat tax proposal. The New York Times' Richard Perez-Pena reports that Giuliani called the flat tax a "mistake" and a "disaster" when Forbes ran for president in 1996.

Catch the rest of today's elections news at RCP's Politics and Elections page.