Iowa and New Hampshire's preposterous reign over the Democratic primaries may soon end
The Democratic Party is finally considering an end to the preposterous reign of Iowa and New Hampshire as the first states to vote for the party's presidential nominee. A better alternative is right under President Joe Biden's nose ... in his home state of Delaware!
The New Hampshire primary began in 1920, but it first took on real significance in February 1968, when Sen. Eugene McCarthy's powerful showing led President Lyndon Johnson to withdraw from the presidential race the following month.
The Iowa caucuses started four years later, but the race there first drew broad notice in 1976, when Jimmy Carter, a previously obscure former Georgia governor, surprised the political world by finishing second ("uncommitted" won.) Ever since, the political and media worlds have descended in force on these two states and spent months cultivating their voters and investing their judgments with outsized importance. Enough!
Why? For starters, the demographics of Iowa and New Hampshire are very different from the rest of the country -- and especially from those of the Democratic Party. (This is why Tom Perez, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, also wants to end New Hampshire and Iowa's hegemony.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/opinion-iowa-and-new-hampshire-s-preposterous-reign-over-the-democratic-primaries-may-soon-end/ar-AAV1VUa
calguy
(5,222 posts)A lot of good candidates have died in those two states and just as many sub-par candidates have been elevated to heights they never deserved to be.
SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)running for particular offices, such as the President, etc., but I think that some states are kind of hogging all of the media attention, hogging all of the candidates stomping to these states in order to make some kind of impact, etc. and in the meantime, the rest of us are kind of wondering "Hey, we're over here!". Don't get me wrong, it's a physical impossibility to have a candidate visit all 50 states and associated territories all at once, etc. It's impossible.
Perhaps some new mechanism, in selecting candidates, can be developed or offered up? In MO, we went to a process (city of STLMO, I'm not sure if this new process is state-wide) called "ranked choice" or something like this.
You would have a whole roster of candidates on a ballot in a state, and then primary number 1 kicks in, and the top 20 out of the 50 total candidates pass muster. After a certain timeframe passes, then primary number 2 kicks in, and the top 5 of the remaining 20 passes muster. Then the final primary kicks in (# 3 or # 4, whether people want in each state), and the top 2 candidates of the remaining 5 are selected, w/ one being the winner, and the second winning candidate is the alternate, in case something happens to the original winning candidate (death, not eligible to run, usual reasons for candidates to drop out).
Anybody else have this process in their areas? We finally did this (Ranked Choice) and I thought that it was really neat and it really offers the voters not such a (by the time candidates arrive on ballots in front of voters, they have been narrowed down (the number of candidates) by either the primary processes in each state before the general elections are held, such as caucuses, primaries where only party members can vote, and other winnowing processes.
2naSalit
(86,048 posts)It's about time that silliness was done away with.
4Q2u2
(1,406 posts)We are letting tiny Red States start OUR process?
It should be a solid Blue State that reflects the larger contingent of Dems all over the country. I don't see Delaware fitting that bill.
Maybe have Southern New England Start or at least all of New England to balance out NH. Campaigns can concentrate in one area then move onto Mid Atlantic or somewhere else. So it gives you averaging, not to mention preventing Voter Fatigue. You will not be bombarded night in and night out. Once your area is done you get a breather. Match population sizes to equal out all the areas power.