Why not four Super Tuesday Regional Primaries?

[No Mandate Here.]

As long as we are talking about Primary election timing, I might as well throw this in front of the whole group.

Why not have four Super Tuesdays, two weeks apart, and rotate the regions every two or four years? Each region would be a time zone (more or less, so the poll hours would be the same each time.

[9119495]

1. One of the issues would be that only rich/well-funded

candidates would have a shot.

In the last election, this would have meant no Wes Clark for example because he got in late. He struggled anyway, but trying to get ground organizations going in all those states would be a real challenge. Think about the necesary ad buys for these multiple states.

We should always keep access to office open for candidates without the financial resources.

NOTE: Improving and increasing public financing would be one way to deal with this problem and move towards your proposal.

[No Mandate Here.]

2. How is this much different than how it is now?

[9119495]

3. Agreed, but a guy can make a splash like Dean did in a state

like Iowa early on. Can he do that in 12 states?

I fear that we would always get the rubberstamped candidate the party chose, mush like long ago. As it is now, our base MUST be energized to get a candidate to be accepted.

Now you're thinking, "but we always get the candidate picked anyway--and it's always a well connected party person--and this hand-picked thing works for the republicans so..."

But I would respond by saying that since we really are a coalition party, we have to mobilize different bases and get them to come together. I think Gore failed to do this as a hand-picked candidate. We lost the fringe and even though we won, we lost. I think Kerry did better--yes partly because of bush--in this matter.

I guess I'm trying to hang on to some idealism that a dark hourse can win. Again, I'm not rejecting your idea out of hand, I just fear what kind of choice we'd have after the first SUPER if one guy one nine states--and probably all the media coverage and the nomination--if all nine states would never vote blue anyway.

[No Mandate Here.]

5. That's why the rotation. If the first primaries were in the Rocky

Mountain time zone, almost all red states, we could see some interesting results- perhaps far different than in the East or West.

Some of the benefits I see are different travel in the long runup before the first primaries, and a small difference in media strategy.

The two year campaigns would go to more places than Iowa and NH. Why should they get all the fun, anyway?

I don't see this as being a disadvantage for the dark horses.

[JaneEyrez]

4. Very interesting idea

I think we need to work on a Voter Bill of Rights that governs how elections can be conducted in this country... right after we save the current election!