Republicans moving to overhaul 2016 primary process

CNN ^ | December 11, 2013 | Peter Hamby

[kobald]

A handful of Republican Party officials is quietly advancing a new batch of rules aimed at streamlining a chaotic presidential nominating process that many party insiders viewed as damaging to the their campaign for the White House in 2012, multiple GOP sources told CNN.

In a series of closed-door meetings since August, handpicked members of the Republican National Committee have been meeting with party Chairman Reince Priebus in Washington to hash out details of a sweeping plan to condense the nominating calendar, severely punish primary and caucus states that upend the agreed-upon voting order and potentially move the party's national convention to earlier in the summer, with late June emerging as the ideal target date...

[longtermmemmory]

how about all CLOSED primaries.

[GeorgeTex]

Start the primaries with states which actually vote Republican, and do not allow “open” primaries.

[Red Badger]

Money doesn’t seem to be the issue in winning or losing. The candidate must walk the walk and talk the talk on conservatism. People can understand it it’s not that difficult. A candidate that can elucidate the conservative ideals without a prompter, straight from the heart will win................

[Orangedog]

He still lost..................

And after it was all said and done, that is really what most people here have the biggest problem with regarding romney. It's not that he was a big government loving, anti gun rights, pro abortion liberal. No, their big problem with romney is that he lost. He's a loser. And in this sports fan centered culture the worst thing that you can be is a loser.

[C. Edmund Wright]

YEP…..what a deep blue state sez about the GOP nomination is not a very valid basis on how to win.

[Let_It_Be_So]

“I think a better primary system would be 5 ten state primary dates with states from each region chosen on a rotating lottery system.
On each date you would get 2 western, 2 eastern, 2 northern, 2 southern, and 2 central states.”

The more I think of your idea, the more I really like it!! The current system truly disenfranchises millions of voters (at least in the nominating process) and it seems this would give those millions a voice when it matters, and that would be a wonderful departure from the status quo.

[Ancesthntr]

If they wanted to do something useful they could arrange to have closed primaries at the state level. Of course McCain and Linda would be opposed to it.

Amen to that! It absolutely enraged me that the Dems in SC were allowed to cross over to vote for McStain in '08. That was the state that was to give Fred Thompson momentum going into Super Tuesday...but the Dems didn't want to face Thompson.

WTF is the point of calling something a REPUBLICAN primary if ANYONE can vote in it? How about forcing people to prove that they've been registered as Republicans for at least 6 months? Open primaries force the candidate choices to the left wing, since almost all crossovers are actually Dem voters (some multiple times in each election) - and for the Party to allow that to occur speaks of a wilful set of actions.

[LibLieSlayer]

Bottom line:

“KILL THE CONSERVATIVES”

[LibLieSlayer]

Those they will increase ten fold.

[LibLieSlayer]

They will shove chris christie down our throats is how.

[deport]

Open primary states but changes occur so don’t if it is still accurate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_primaries_in_the_United_States

Alabama
Arizona (Semi-closed, with primaries open only to unaffiliated or unrepresented voters, except for the Libertarian Party of Arizona primary.)
Arkansas
Georgia
Hawaii (Open primary for state, local, and congressional races; caucus system for presidential races.)
Illinois
Massachusetts (All races’ primaries open for “unenrolled”/unaffiliated voters only)
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
North Carolina
North Dakota
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin[11]

[zeugma]

I don’t know if I like the hat idea, but anything would be an improvement over what we have now I suppose….

Then you probably wouldn't like my solution to the fact that we've come to the point where we have a political aristocracy ruling us from afar...

I'd like to see a national lottery for all elected political office. Each taxpayer gets one 'entry' for each $10 in taxes he pays. Drawings are made, and continue until all offices are filled.  All governmental bodies would meet electronically, with footage continually archived. At any time a taxpayer could hit a website and download a stream of proceedings.

I figure we couldn't possibly be any worse off under such a system than we are now.

I think it would also be a good idea to require each legislooter to wear google glass with forced public uploads.

 

[C. Edmund Wright]

The electronic meeting idea is one I’ve had for a while now…and that alone would solve so many problems…..because it’s the isolation of Washington that turns good people into bad ones...

[JediJones]

Not when the opponent bombards the airwaves with negative ads about the conservative candidates, usually trying to portray them as un-conservative. Millions of people vote in these primaries and they are not all informed voters with no sheep-like qualities.

[zeugma]

The electronic meeting idea is one I’ve had for a while now…and that alone would solve so many problems…..because it’s the isolation of Washington that turns good people into bad ones...

Yup. Lets turn the entire city of the District of Criminals into a national park.

Alternately, I say we invite the aliens from Independence Day to wipe out DC for us. It would be so much better than having some muslim animal do it.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Lets call it iCongress…..talk to us from across their desks in their districts, talk to each other and lobbyists over the iPhone….

[lormand]

I'm in Texas too.

By the time we Texans get to vote, there is nothing left to pick from.

[deport]

By the time we Texans get to vote, there is nothing left to pick from.

*************

If Texas holds to their current schedule then that will change. 2014 primary is scheduled
for Mar. 4 and 2016 Mar. 1. Now if this 2016 date will hold is yet to be determined.
If it does that places Texas in the mix with FL, TN, VA, VT, OK and MA.

[SunkenCiv]

Oh, what a surprise -- incoherent criticism of vague and unidentified conspirators and puppetmasters.

a sweeping plan to condense the nominating calendar, severely punish primary and caucus states that upend the agreed-upon voting order and potentially move the party's national convention to earlier in the summer, with late June emerging as the ideal target date

Gosh, I can see why anyone would be against that! I mean, we should have a convention in late October, y'know, to make it more fair! /s

Ideally, the primaries would be regional, with small groups of neighboring states voting on the same date, perhaps two weeks apart, to consolidate the campaigning by the candidates, and having the largest states vote one at at time, at the end, one week apart. There would be more surviving candidates, who would then duke it out, and a stronger final ticket.

[redgolum]

After the GOP fraud in giving Romney the Iowa Caucus, and then getting caught,I’m not surprised.