Reply #10: My proposal [View All]

I would propose the nation be divided into regions like this:

Northeast (8)
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
Pennsylvania

Mid-Atlantic (8)
New Jersey
Maryland
Delaware
DC
West Virginia
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina

South (9)
Florida
Georgia
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Arkansas
Texas
Oklahoma
Tennessee

Midwest (8)
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Ohio
Michigan
Minnesota
Wisconsin

Plains (9)
Missouri
Kansas
Nebraska
North Dakota
South Dakota
Montana
Wyoming
Colorado
Utah

West (9)
Washington
Oregon
Idaho
California
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Alaska
Hawaii

The primary season kicks off the week of January 6, 2008. To pacify IA and NH, we let them go first on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Maryland, New Mexico, Arkansas and Kansas would hold their primary or caucus later in the week.

On January 27 the second round kicks off with events in Maine, West Virginia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Montana.

February 10 would be Oregon, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Michigan, Alabama and North Dakota.

Two weeks later Washington, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri hold their primaries.

March 11 is Super Tuesday. The largest states in each region have their primaries with 1/3 of all the delegates up for grabs: California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois and Missouri. After Super Tuesday 73% of the delegates will be awarded so it is possible, though unlikely, we'd have a winner.

Three regions (Plains, South, West) have extra states. They will hold an extra primary on the week of March 23. These states would be Nevada, Louisiana and Nebraska.

April 6 would be the next big round of primaries, with elections in Idaho, Rhode Island, DC, Minnesota, Georgia and Colorado. At this point, 84% of the delegates have been assigned.

On April 20 the next-to-last primaries take place in Utah, Florida, Kentucky, Delaware, Vermont and Hawaii.

Going into the final week of primary contest on May 11, 93% of the delegates have been awarded and it is likely that we have a nominee. However if no one has wrapped up 50% of the votes, Wyoming, Mississippi, Indiana, Virginia, Connecticut and Alaska would decide the nomination.

A few notes: The delegate counts are calculated from the base delegate counts from 2004 and do not include Super-Delegates.

This plan eliminates the front-loading issue: After the first two primary weeks, less than 14% of the delegates have been awarded; fewer than 25% after week three and only 40% prior to Super Tuesday. The nomination would not be wrapped up until at least April, giving people plenty of time to vet the candidates.

The biggest benefit of this plan would be the diversity introduced in the earliest stages of the primary season. More than just the ethnic diversity of including large numbers of Hispanics and Blacks, we would have regional diversity. We would be including good portions of the South and Midwest in the early stages of the process.

The states have been set where they are on the calendar to allow a certain percentage of the delegates to be awarded in each round. This prevents the front-loading, but also ensures that the early states carry some weight. Some of them can be moved pretty easily if necessary.