The leaders of Iowa’s two major political parties say they’re confident Iowa’s Caucuses will remain first-in-the-nation.

The Caucuses have been the kick-off event of the presidential nominating season for nearly four decades. National leaders in the Democratic and Republican parties appear poised to adopt rules this summer which would schedule the 2012 Iowa Caucuses on February 6.

Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn says the proposed rules allow Iowa, then New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to hold Caucuses and Primaries before March 1, 2012.  “I’m confident that we’ll move forward with that plan,”  Strawn says. “It’s just a great area where the parties do work well together.”

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Sue Dvorsky says it’s a topic on which the two parties in Iowa are in total agreement.

“It is remarkably important for Iowa to remain first-in-the-nation and I think there are a multiple set of reasons for that, one of which is that we are a tremendously engaged electorate here — a politically-literate electorate,” Dvorsky says.  “And we can host these candidates from both sides in a way that really allows them to showcase themselves become better candidates.”

Dvorsky was elected chair of the Democratic Party in June after Michael Kiernan, her predecessor, resigned for health reasons. Dvorsky and Strawn made their comments earlier today during a forum sponsored by IowaPolitics.com

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican candidate in 2012, is due to campaign in Iowa this weekend. More than a handful of other Republicans who are pondering a bid for the White House have campaigned in Iowa since the 2008 General Election, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the winner of the Republican winner of the January 3, 2008 Iowa Caucuses.