Politics and Dharma

First, please note this clever list, with the understanding that as each point describes how one votes at a primary, it also provides a reason why you ought to vote in a primary. For Dem’s, this includes the privilege of voting for Dennis Kucinich.

Several solutions have been offered for dealing with the escalating battle between the states in which will be first to hold primary elections. Gardner Selby lays it out nicely in the Statesman this morning:

Weighing nomination plans

Several plans could be reviewed by the Republican Party for changing how presidential nominees are reached. They include:

Texas plan: Primaries would be spaced from February through May, with states and territories broken into four groups taking turns starting off the presidential election years. Under the plan, each group of states and territories is balanced by a similar share of electoral votes, convention delegates and states won by either the Republican or Democratic presidential nominees the previous election. Texas voters would act at the same time as voters in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Delaware plan:States broken into four groups by population. The smallest 12 states, plus federal territories, would vote first, followed by the next smallest 13 states, then the 13 medium-size states and finally the 12 largest states.

Rotating regional primaries:The National Association of Secretaries of State has endorsed regional primaries, with the order of regions changing every election cycle. While ensuring that all states in a given 20-year period would have a chance to be among the first primary dates, it would make retail politicking, or meeting voters individually, very difficult.

American plan:Also known as the California plan, it suggests randomly selecting states to hold their primaries or caucuses over 10 two-week intervals, with a gradual increase in the total population of states and territories holding primaries/caucuses.

Sources: Bill Crocker; fairvote.org

The Delaware plan has the flaw of being a fixed arrangement, which is the main problem facing folks trying to maintain the ascendancy of Iowa and NH. Some sort of rotational system will have to be set up if we can’t just pick one day to nationally have primaries. I’d bet a regional system would beat a random one, but you’d want to make each region no larger than 7 or 8 states.