I’m not a Joe Lieberman fan. But I really like what he and Lamar Alexander are proposing to fix the presidential primary system:
Under their plan, adopted by the National Association of Secretaries of State in 2000, the country would be divided into four regions, east, south, midwest and west.
One region would hold its nominating events on the first Tuesday, or shortly thereafter, during the first week in March. Another region would hold contests in April, another in May and another in June.
Iowa and New Hampshire would retain their status as the first, as each would hold its elections before March.
The system would begin in 2012, with a lottery held to determine which region goes first. In 2016, the order wold be rotated so that the first region of 2012 would go last in 2016. (Lightman)
This is absolutely the right approach. It’s a workable system which could lead to Connecticut actually seeing a presidential candidate or two every now and then. Lieberman would like New Hampshire and Iowa to be added into the mix instead of going first, which I also agree with. Here’s hoping that the absolute madness that the 2008 primary campaign has been will result in this proposal being taken seriously.
Source
Lightman, David. “Senators Propose Presidential Primary Reforms.” Hartford Courant 31 July, 2007.
5 responses so far ↓
I agree. This is the best proposition that I have heard. It gives each region a chance to be first in a 16 year cycle, makes the areas large enough to be a good test of the candidates and small enough to not require the raising of outlandish sums of money to support the primary effort. I hope it approved by the states and the parties.
We see candidates in CT all the time. Whenever they need money.
wow, for once, I actually think Lieberman has a good idea.
You know who you can blame for the current mess?
New Hampshire. Its only because those jerks selfishly made it part of their constitution that they have the first Presidential Primary that we have been steadily moving back the start of the Presidential race.
There are constitutional issues with the Lieberman idea because the states determine when they have their primaries. You would have to get every state to agree for this to work and I don’t think that’s likely.
It’s all a huge mess and I have not the first clue how to fix it.
I think it is a bit much to blame New Hampshire, they only move their primary up because other states have moved up their’s
You must log in to post a comment.