COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Chairman offers options for changing caucuses
The chairman of the Texas Democrats has floated two ideas to a panel studying changes to the party's method of choosing presidential delegates to its national convention.
Before the start of a hearing Monday in Austin, some party activists said the party needs to match states that award delegates to presidential candidates based on voting on primary day, rather than having about 25 percent of delegates picked at nighttime caucuses.
"Caucuses are subject to mob rule," said Frances Morey of Austin, who has supported Sen. Hillary Clinton for president. "And that's what happened" this year.
Sen. Barack Obama gathered more delegates from Texas than Clinton did, thanks to caucus turnouts, though Clinton led in the popular vote in the March primary. Obama is now the presumptive party nominee for president.
Chairman Boyd Richie's first idea: Employ electronic voting at the caucuses, which drew 1 million voters in this year's presidential primary. That could cost about $2 million, Richie said.
Idea two: Shift the caucuses from the night of the primary to another day. Richie suggested holding the primary on a Friday and caucuses the next day.
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/08/0708texdigest.html