South Carolina’s special status as the “gateway to the South” for Republicans seeking their party’s presidential nomination is under siege.

Seven states have moved up their contests to the first Tuesday in February, threatening South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary.

“We are being assaulted from all sides,” said state Republican Party chairman Katon Dawson.

South Carolina’s primary has been on a Saturday, 10 days after New Hampshire’s.

States moving up their primaries to the first Tuesday following the New Hampshire contest — which would put them ahead of South Carolina — include Arkansas, Delaware, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

North Carolina is considering moving its primary to the same date.

“They’ve seen the success we’ve been able to generate in South Carolina, and they want to take advantage of it,” said Luke Byars, state GOP executive director. “I don’t blame them.”

GOP officials estimate that the 2000 presidential primary between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona generated $40 million in revenue for the state.

“It’s all about economics,” Dawson said. “And the states all want a piece of it.”

Besides economics, states are moving their primaries up in an effort to play a greater role in selecting presidential nominees.

Since 1980, South Carolina’s status as a key Republican presidential primary state has grown immensely. Politicians and pundits look to the contest as an early indicator of how the rest of the South will vote.

In 2000, South Carolina’s Feb. 19 contest was one of the earliest in the nation. It drew busloads of reporters who wanted to know whether voters would support maverick McCain or prefer an establishment type, Bush.

The state’s political profile was raised. Hotels and restaurants made money from the hordes that descended, and candidates spent significant time in the state. During the campaign, South Carolina also was featured in national newspapers and evening newscasts.

The state GOP is determined not to lose that advantage in 2008.

“We’ve already told the Republican National Committee that our primary will be in the national spotlight, regardless of what others do,” Dawson said.

S.C. Republicans have given their chairman authority to change the primary date as often as he must to protect the state’s first-in-the-South contest.

New Hampshire law requires that its first-in-the-nation primary be held at least seven days before any other state’s.

Since its primary in 1980, the S.C. contest has been gaining stature. State voters have correctly predicted who the Republican nominee would be, and candidates have become attuned to the importance the primary plays.

More than a dozen years ago, the late GOP consultant Lee Atwater looked at the schedule of GOP primaries and decided he could put up a “firewall” between New Hampshire and the explosive multistate primaries of early March. His home state of South Carolina would go a few days early.

Since then, Republicans elected president have learned the GOP road to the White House runs straight through South Carolina.

The jockeying for position is expected to continue between now and 2008. Those who would reorganize the system say it would allow more participation by voters in more states before the presidential nominee is decided.

In 2000, the GOP nominee for president was chosen by March 7, before two-thirds of the states could hold primaries.