We [CA] pay, they decide

[question everything]

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20951~1945634,00.html#

Los Angeles Daily News

(snip)

Californians provide more than 10 percent of all the donations to the major candidates, and 20 percent of those for the Democrats. But by the time the state's March 2 primary rolls around, the race should be all but decided, assuming Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry continues to rout his opponents.

(snip)

When it comes to presidential primaries, California is just a cash cow, and nothing more.

After the 2000 race, the state tried to correct the injustice by putting its primary earlier in the season, but the effort failed when other states simply moved their primaries earlier still. The result is now a compressed primary season, one that moves faster, but still leaves California in the dark.

(snip)

A better way to reform the system would be to rotate the states' primary schedules. Thus California's 2004 primary might come at the end of the campaign, but 2008 would come at the beginning, and states like New Hampshire and Iowa -- which exert disproportionate influence today -- would periodically have to wait their turns just like everyone else.

As a reform, it's fair and it's simple, which is why it would probably never happen.

Folks in New Hampshire and Iowa, among other states, have come to regard the loudest voice in choosing presidents as some kind of a birthright. And candidates routinely pledge their support for the current primary system, fearing that if they don't, they won't be able to win in those key early states.

(snip)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. a rotating schedule seems fairest

We've seen in the past that whoever wins NH and IA doesn't necessarily move on to win the election. I've read here at DU of a proposal not only to rotate the primary schedule, but also to group the states by region. This, in my mind, makes sense; candidates can save money in travel time and can bring forth those ideas that may appeal more to a specific area.

[question everything]

2. One plan will leave IA and NH as they are

but the rest would be in 4 or 5 regional primaries, one each month in a rotating order.

However it would require the agreement of all 50 Secretaries of State which is considered impossible..

[Sunny_Sunshine]

3. Money has no impact?

This implies that the huge amount of money CA donates has no impact. If California went earlier, it would make the whole decision, which at one point in my life I would have said was fine but let's face it, you all went nuts last fall (OK so maybe not everyone went nuts but enough to elect a totally devoid of experience and issues second rate actor and nobody made him say anything about what he would do to solve the problems caused by Enron and the Bushies). Nice run on sentence, don't you think!

[xxqqqzme]

4. Actually steroid boy received fewer

votes in the recall than Davis did in the general.

Xcellent run-on sentence. I couldn't agree more w/ the sentiments.

edit:add And why not rotate. Region grouping makes sense as each region's concerns could be addressed more directly.

As far as the money goes - Dean was organized in CA early and the money was big from here - why not have a say??! CA has nearly 1/4 of the votes needed to clinch the nomination. Talk about a true early front runner!