AUGUSTA – The Republican State Committee on Saturday scheduled the party’s 2008 caucuses for next February that help choose the next Republican presidential nominee.

The caucuses are scheduled for Feb. 1, 2 and 3, said Joe Bruno, chairman of the Maine Republican Party.

The party is allowing the state’s counties and municipalities to decide whether to have single countywide caucuses or a number of municipal caucuses within each county, Bruno said.

The Republicans’ caucus dates are far different than those in 2004, when they took place over a 21/2-month span between January and March.

That year, the Republicans were upstaged by the Democratic caucuses because of the piecemeal scheduling and by the lack of a field of contenders for the nomination, with George W. Bush’s renomination a foregone conclusion.

The Democratic State Committee already has scheduled its 2008 caucuses for Feb. 10.