First, the first couple of state me so much. Too much. Bachmann, Perry and Huntsman were out before SC! Two primaries and they called it quit. What if say MN was primary #2? Bachmann could have had a resurgents. What if it was Texas? Perry could have won also. It blows bigtime.
Second, it's too damn long and drawn out. Primaries start in Jan and end in June. Campaigning starts well prior to that.
Third, cash becomes king. If you don't have cash you lose! You only get cash by doing good in the first couple of states. Say Santorum didn't pull off a shocker, he would have still been broke.
Fourth, the length gives too much power to the PACs. Instead of going down a slippery slope and making the process shorter and with more states voting each day would take away the power of the Super PACs negative ads!
My suggestions:
(1) Pick a month btw March, April, May or June to have every primary election in.
(2) Go by time zone: Each time votes on each Satur. For example, the First Saturday Pacific Zone (includes Alaska and Hawaii) votes, next Satur goes Mountain, third Satur Central and last Satur Eastern. Put the territories (Puerto Rico, American Somao, Guam etc) in with Moutain time.
This way each candidate will have to appeal to the entire country and not just a few key states in the beginning. The power of the Super PACs will be lessened. IW (as would no state) have disproportionate power over the candidate!
Second, it's too damn long and drawn out. Primaries start in Jan and end in June. Campaigning starts well prior to that.
Third, cash becomes king. If you don't have cash you lose! You only get cash by doing good in the first couple of states. Say Santorum didn't pull off a shocker, he would have still been broke.
Fourth, the length gives too much power to the PACs. Instead of going down a slippery slope and making the process shorter and with more states voting each day would take away the power of the Super PACs negative ads!
My suggestions:
(1) Pick a month btw March, April, May or June to have every primary election in.
(2) Go by time zone: Each time votes on each Satur. For example, the First Saturday Pacific Zone (includes Alaska and Hawaii) votes, next Satur goes Mountain, third Satur Central and last Satur Eastern. Put the territories (Puerto Rico, American Somao, Guam etc) in with Moutain time.
This way each candidate will have to appeal to the entire country and not just a few key states in the beginning. The power of the Super PACs will be lessened. IW (as would no state) have disproportionate power over the candidate!
