State Republicans Look to Scrap Primaries (BAD IDEA ALERT)

BAD IDEA. This just opens us up to all sorts of false accusations. And it does reek of undemocratic principles. I can just imagine the ruckus over this resulting in some Bush-hating RINO announcing he's running just to muck up the works.

For God's sake, spend the money and leave the process alone.

I agree, but I can give a solid arguement for both sides here.

Primaries were intended for PARTY MEMBERS to choose the nominee for president. That's the traditionalist arguement.(and I like open primaries myself).

Now, the best way to combat 'caucuses'? It's to become a PRECINCT DELEGATE.

I don't know what's so undemocratic about doing away with primaries. Republicans have been screwed out of a viable candidate a few times specifically because of primaries. The only people that participate in primaries are hardliners who tend to not represent the overall majority of the party. Presidential candidates have to appeal to these people and then do an turnaround as soon as they are nominated in order to rally the remainder of the voters within its own party, let alone appeal to those voters who are not Republican. This puts Republicans at a disadvantage because there are more registered Democrats than there are Republicans, so Republicans are already starting from behind.
I don't think its undemocratic to have a process in which the party elites decide among themselves which candidate would have the broadest appeal in a national election. This whole fascination with primaries is merely a gimmick to get media time and make states like Iowa and New Hampshire feel important. Nothing against those two states, but the Party should be focused on the larger picture than having our candidates tear each other apart in front of the cameras to win some meaningless caucus like Iowa.

There is talk of doing this in Texas too. If the people pushing this are successful, candidate positions may come to reflect those of the single-issue zealots who attend caucuses in greater proportions than their numbers among voters. Those positions may not resonate with voters -- if so, the GOP will lose. Better to see what flies with the public in the primaries.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.