Dean: Fixing the Broken Presidential Nomination Process.

By JOHN DEAN

Only those living in caves, or maybe more interested in the travails of Britney Spears, are unaware that the presidential primary and caucus season has arrived. As one who has followed this quadrennial event closely for many years, I find that it never ceases to amaze that rather than simplifying this process - not to mention making it less expensive - with the passage of time, we have done just the opposite. In the larger scheme of problems, the broken nominating process is certainly not our most serious. Yet the failure to resolve it is indicative of the attitude of today's political leaders.

This year, some thirty-four states will determine their presidential nominee before March 1; in 2000, by comparison, only eleven states took such action so early. Everything has been front-loaded and compressed. The process may well exhaust the candidates, not to mention the voters. Given the current system, moreover, few Americans will actually interact with the candidates before the process has ended.

Both major parties' inability to fix this fundamental problem should call into question their ability to govern. It is a very bad sign that a matter as basic as nominating presidential candidates has been turned into a contest of money-raising and organization. Such a contest surely does not translate into effective governing (as Bush and Cheney have proven).

The sad truth is that political parties care little about American voters and the democratic processes. One needs to look no further than the insane primary schedule for 2008.
The Insane 2008 Presidential Preference Schedule
Already, we have seen Iowa (which almost pushed its caucuses into 2007) and New Hampshire successfully demand that, though far from the nation's largest states, they lead the way in selecting the next president. Now - with the race for the nomination far from settled - the schedule is picking up speed in the coming weeks (and months). The presidential primary schedule for 2008 is absurd. A madman could not have designed it to be worse.

In January, in addition to Iowa and New Hampshire, there are primaries in Michigan (1/15), Nevada has precinct caucuses (1/19), and there is a GOP primary in South Carolina (1/19). A week later, there is the Democratic primary in South Carolina (1/26), and the month ends with the Florida primary (1/29).

In February, Maine holds a GOP primary (2/1), and there are a slew of primaries taking place in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (D), Illinois, Kansas (D), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico (D), New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah (all on 2/5), plus caucuses in Colorado and North Dakota (also both on 2/5). If this Super Tuesday scattered across the land has not resolved the matter, then the rest of the month should, with the Louisiana and Kansas GOP primaries (2/9), Maine Democratic caucuses (2/10), primaries in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia (2/12), and primaries in Hawaii (D), Washington, and Wisconsin (2/19).

In the unlikely event that the nominees have not been decided by mid-February, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming (D) and Mississippi will hold primaries in March. Pennsylvania has its primary in April; then Indiana, North Carolina, Nebraska, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon and Idaho (R) in May, followed by Montana, New Mexico (R), and South Dakota in June.
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