Time For A Cool Change
Keith_Indy on Feb 07 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Keith's Page
Although I’m leery anytime Congress says it’s going to “fix” something, something really does need to be changed in the primary system. That the race is all but decided by the time some states primaries, makes those voters with later primaries, much less important in the process.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200802/POL20080207a.html
With Super Tuesday now behind us, there’s a movement afoot to reform the presidential primary system, and it is coming from the states themselves.
The nation’s secretaries of state want Congress to turn its attention to a bill that would replace the current primary system with one centered on four revolving regional primaries.
…
But once voters in Iowa and New Hampshire have their say, the plan divides the country into four geographic regions, with primaries to start in March.
“Each of those regions has a primary – a Super Tuesday, if you will – but it will be a regional Super Tuesday, and we stretch it out over the next four months,” he said.
Lots will be drawn, and whatever region goes first – East, West, North or South – would go last the next presidential year and work its way up towards the top, so that over a 16-year cycle, each region will get a chance to go first, last, and be in the middle, Grayson said.
I would go even further than this, with randomly selected states from each quintile of state size. This would be on a rotating basis per year, with the order redetermined each census.
There are some potential problems with the method the SOS’s are backing.
“Because it would be a rotating regional primary, the particular beneficiaries from different wings of political parties would vary from one election to the next – and it would probably give rise to more gamesmanship in terms of particular candidates timing their attempts to seek the presidential nomination,” Conlan concluded.
Conservative candidates, for instance, would likely have to wait until it was the South’s or West’s turn before launching their candidacies.
I don’t know what the answer is, but a change would be welcome.
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