In 2020:
Make DC a state and give its urban, 50/50 minority population the FIRST primary. Followed by California.

Stop letting rural white people run this country. For god’s sake. The most productive parts of our nation’s economy are our cities. Which are diverse, often young, often educated, caring, tolerant places. And also Democratic places. No coincidence. Let diverse states vote first.

Bush in 2000 and Obama in 2008. Oh, and Carter who came second after "undecided.."

Unfortunately, as Giuliani found out the hard way, skipping these states will signal the end of the run. Don't remember whether it was in 2008 or 2012..

terribly underperforming almost guarantees you'll lose. Contributions will dry up, you'll be handicapped for the subsequent races, and you probably won't last long.

Also, the media loves a horse race, and these are the first two goalposts that you can get people excited about.

closed primaries, with no caucuses.

I think we'd get a better idea of which candidates Democrats prefer, without giving too much attention to any individual states just because they come earlier.

The expressed purpose of primaries is to determine which candidate has the endurance and smarts to maintain appeal to voters over months. Having a one day prinary favors candidates that can raise lots of money, and opens primaries up to complete control by big money interests and donors that can fork over a $2800 donation on request. If you want to go to a single day prinary, it does not matte to me, just be careful what you wish for.

I'm tired of Iowa getting all manner of really stupid promises, like putting corn in our gasoline. Let's rotate the states so that crap can be spread around the country.

In 76 and 92, the eventual Democratic Party nominee didn't win either state. I think that a person who can appeal to the south and middle Atlantic states can overcome losing both states, as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did. A fly in the ointment this year is the California and Texas primaried being positioned where they are, that can negate the power of southern and mid-Atlantic democratic primary voters.