DNC sets off free-for-all to remake presidential calendar

[brooklynite]

Politico

The Democratic National Committee is officially reopening its presidential nominating process, upending the current calendar led by Iowa and New Hampshire and requiring them — and any other interested states — to apply for early-state status in 2024.

Members of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted on Wednesday to set the application process for how states will be considered as candidates to lead off the presidential primaries, potentially expanding the roster from four to five states. The influential perch guarantees candidates, attention and money flow into those states during national campaigns — not to mention giving voters there an outsize say in picking presidents.

Iowa and New Hampshire have dominated the process since the dawn of the modern presidential nominating process, with other early states added and adjusted along the way. But Iowa’s disastrous 2020 Democratic caucuses, which featured delayed results due to technical difficulties, fueled complaints that the first-in-the-nation state not only failed to implement its caucus properly, but no longer represented the party’s diversity.

The DNC will require states looking to move up in the calendar to submit a letter of intent by May 6, then a formal application due on June 3. They will also make a presentation to the committee in late June. Then, the rules committee will have six weeks to make its recommendation on the new early-state lineup, which will likely be announced at their meeting in early July. Later this summer, the rules committee’s roster of states will go to the full DNC membership for a vote to lock in the calendar for the 2024 presidential cycle.

[barbaraann]

1. I am so glad I lived long enough to see this!! n/t

[VarryOn]

2. Finally! Just thinking about which states would be good...

And more representative.

My list:

--Missouri
--North Carolina
--Pennsylvania
--Ohio
--Colorado
--Washington
--Virginia

[brooklynite]

3. Comments

How is Missouri representative?

North Carolina: maybe

Pennsylvania: Too big for retail campaigning; expensive media markets

Ohio: Too big for retail campaigning; expensive media markets

Colorado: maybe

Washington: too liberal to produce a competitive candidate

Virginia: expensive media markets

[Demsrule86]

4. You need rust belt states at the beginning at least one or two...we win or lose in the rust belt.

[Demsrule86]

5. I don't think you need small aways...we damn well need PA and if a candidate can't do well.

he/she shouldn't be our nominee. South Carolina shows strength with Black voters...

[brooklynite]

7. Here's the problem...

If you start with a large and expensive State, you limit the potential candidates to those with existing name identity and a large war chest, and you emphasize TV ads and rallies over engaging with actual voters. That would keep Pete Buttigeg, Corey Booker, Amy Klobuchar et al out of the race.

[VarryOn]

8. Admittedly, I was shooting from the hip...

I know Missouri is red, but for a Democratic primary, I think it could be fairly representative. It's Midwest, with a tinge of Southern and anchored by two decent sized urban areas.

I'd prefer retail politicking early in the process, but what smaller states would enable that and be more diverse. RI? CT? DE? Maybe.

I think it would be good to have the first ones to covers the South, Northeast, Midwest, and West.

[Demsrule86]

6. That is a good list.