General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI'd like to see a change as to which states lead off the primary.
It's good to see states doing away with caucuses. I'd also like the Democratic Primary to start with states that more closely reflect the Democratic electorate, such as Illinois and Virginia, or Maryland and Georgia, or California and North Carolina. The states that go first carry a lot of weight in terms of momentum, and I don't think Iowa and New Hampshire should be those states.
Thoughts?
The River
(2,615 posts)have their primary on the same day (or entire weekend) so
the early small states don't carry as much weight.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)An answer to that might be campaign finance reform, such as dividing up a pool of money evenly between every candidate (and stipulating that no other money may be used).
JI7
(89,174 posts)and that's because the early primary elections are one of the biggest events for those states. and if one of the parties takes away their early status it will help the other party in the general election.
so it can be done but both parties would have to do it.
someone once suggested rotating states and i thought that was a good idea. they can still keep the early ones small so it helps all candidates to get around. i'm in california and a california first primary would SUCK BADLY . it would be all tv ads.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)...suggested rotating groups of states. Each group would consist of states from a variety of regions.
Fair point about both parties needing to make the same changes.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Silver Gaia
(4,514 posts)Our primaries have always been in June, which is just too close to the convention in July. We can help create more positive momentum in March.
Raine
(30,540 posts)moves theirs even earlier to get ahead of ours.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)This is from an NPR article:
Given that 1 out of every 8 Americans lives in California, I do think our primary should be fairly early.
BluegrassDem
(1,693 posts)We could have the New England states, Mid-Atlantic states, southern states, the Midwest, Rocky Mountain, plain states, and the west coast all have their primaries together staggered on the calendar.
aikoaiko
(34,127 posts)Tarheel_Dem
(31,207 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)Because since Kennedy was elected in 1960, we haven't elected a Democratic President without strong support from the south.
Either a Southerner -- Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter -- or a northerner with huge minority support, including in the South -- Obama.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)dembotoz
(16,739 posts)Lots of meals bought, hotels booked.free advertising for quaint rural towns
They won't give that up easily