At a meeting of the state Democratic Central Committee here, members voted 119-42 against an amendment that would have replaced the caucuses with the primary as the mechanism for choosing delegates, party spokesman Michael King said.

Washington Democrats will hold their precinct caucuses next Feb. 9.

The Democrats' national convention is scheduled to take place in Denver from Aug. 25-28, 2008.

Washington's primary was created in 1989 through an initiative to the Legislature. But since it was first used in 1992, Democrats have never used the outcome to allocate delegates to their national convention. Instead, they use the caucus system, in which voters meet in their precincts to discuss candidates and elect delegates.

State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz said the vote to stick with caucuses means Washington "will continue to be a place where presidential candidates must win support through grassroots organizing rather than through expensive television ads."

Washington's presidential primary currently is held in May of presidential election years -- one of the latest in the country.

Lawmakers canceled it in 2004, when the only contested presidential primary was the Democratic ticket.

A committee of lawmakers and political party officials could not reach agreement last month on setting an earlier date.

Democrats said they wanted to hold it on March 18, while Republicans and Secretary of State Sam Reed wanted to join the growing number of states that will vote on Feb. 5, 2008.

The nine-member committee voted 5-4 against both dates.

Reed said at the time that he might reconvene the committee in May.

He said an earlier primary date would make the state more attractive to presidential candidates, who he said would travel here not just to raise money, but to talk to voters about issues specific to the area.

Republicans also mainly use caucuses, but have allocated delegates to varying degrees based on the primary results.

But last month, the state Republican Party executive board decided informally to ignore the primary, which is expected to cost the state $9.7 million.

A final decision won't be made until the GOP's state central committee meeting in June.