There is no such thing as a fair and equitable primary schedule.

[cali]

An all state primary day? Great idea if you want to increase the obscene money chase. Only candidates with hundreds of millions of dollars for blanketing the airwaves with ads would stand a chance. You'd never see someone like Carter and Clinton again. Ever. Dennis Kucinich could never get his ideas out there.

Rotating regional primaries? Same problem as above.

Rotating which states go first? Pretty complex and confusing.

I don't live in an early primary state, but I really value retail politics a la New Hampshire and Iowa. Yes, the lack of diversity in those two states is a problem, and that's what the DNC has attempted to remedy by moving S. Carolina and Nevada up on the schedule this year.

I still want to see the "lower tier" candidates and the powerhouse candidates traipsing through living rooms and having real conversations with voters. Move to rotating regionals or a national primary and that's gone, replaced by more expensive, meaningless and smarmy ads.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. I heard someone on NPR discussing a system which seemed reasonable

only I can't remember what it was called or what show or who was discussing it:silly:

Anyway, it was a system where there was weighting involved - a certain number of states would go at the same time, but the delegates available remained the same. So, a bunch of smaller states went first, and then a grouping of fewer mid-size states and then finally the largest states went last. I thought it seemed like a very well thought out, equitable system. It gave equal voice to everyone and as the guy talking said, it still allowed for late entrants.

Maybe someone with more remaining brain cells heard the same conversation.

[LiberalFighter]

2. You don't think having at least 6 regional primaries with each taking their turn each election?

How many states have cities that can only be reached effectively by the media in another state? Instead of paying twice or three times candidates could reduce their campaign expenditures if those states were in the same region.

How states are scattered across the country during specific primary dates? Candidates could reduce their expenditures if they can reduce their traveling.

If there are about 6 regional primaries each regional primary would get a chance to be first to have their primary if they are rotated each presidential election.

[cali]

3. 6 rotating regional primaries

would still wipe out retail politics and heap an even greater advantage on the candidates with mega war chests. Again, you'd never see a Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton emerging as the nominee. And frankly, I'm sick of all this whining about wanting to go first. I'd rather preserve retail politicing than go first.

[cobalt1999]

4. That's probably the fairest solution.

There are some issues with a national primary day. Rotating regional primaries are the fairest practical solution.

As for the minor candidates, they can easily tour a geographically connected region without much cost. Furthermore, if a candidate can't even get the support, organization, and funds to compete in a single region, then they aren't going to be a viable contender anyway.

[cali]

7. I disagree.

First of all, I value candidates like Dennis Kucinich, even if he's not viable. It's important that his voice is heard. Secondly, each of the 6 regions would, on average, be comprised of 10 million plus potential voters. You're just flat wrong about it not costing much. It would prohibitively expensive to all but a very select few.

[dansolo]

5. The best solution is several small to medium states on the first primary day

I hate the idea of Iowa and New Hampshire getting their own days. Far too much atttention is paid to two small states that don't represent most of the population. It would also be unfair to have any large states on this first day, so I would exclude the top 10 most populous states. I would divide the country in five regions, and have at least one state from each region. It doesn't need to be rotating. It just needs to be more representative of the country as a whole.

[MaineDem]

6. As long as smaller states are grouped together without a bigger state I'm for it

Putting states like CA, OH, and NY together with ND, ME, and RI would mean, obviously, that all the time would be spent in the big states.

Although I like the idea of Iowa and NH being first, now together with Nevada and SC, I think having grouped primaries would work if the number of delegates at stake on any one day was fairly even