Thank you for pointing out the funding issue. It’s more complicated and entrenched than I thought, since I was not aware of candidates getting rich off of keeping public funds that are left over.
By the way, NY is a blue state but the primaries are not open. I don’t know whether that is the law or not. There is certainly plenty of money here for the parties to fund their own primaries but I don’t think they do.
Priebus would not want to get into funding primaries from the national party, even if it did suit his political purposes, since he is all about money.
The problem in MS was that those specifically invited to participate had, in many cases, already voted in the Democrat primary. That was against the state's own rules.
This is heavily abused by retiring long-term Congressmen, who always make sure the odd million or two is tucked away in the campaign treasury.
Serving in Congress is an incredibly lucrative deal. Why do you think politics attracts so many essentially failed small town lawyers? BTW, I don't mean to harp on federal representatives. This goes for your state legislator yahoos as well, extending down to mayors, and any other elected officials.
My hero Pat Buchanan, known in our college years as the "Coldcocker," and his sister Birch cleverly raised money until they qualified for federal matching funds, and then cleverly spend not another dime! $10 Million+. And all legal.