Rhode Island might not end up joining the February 5 national primary, after all. Governor Don Carcieri, a Republican, has vetoed a bill from the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to move their primary, currently scheduled for March 4, up to February 5.

Carcieri based his veto on the argument that changing the date at this juncture would cause too much of an inconvenience for local election boards to administer it properly.

A key backer of the bill conceded that it is probably too late to handle an override. Carcieri's office had previously signaled that he would not veto it.