The Case for a National Primary Election System
By Doug Patton (01/30/07)
The speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives says he wants to help U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign by moving up the 2008 Illinois primary election. Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has proposed moving next year's March 18 primary to February 5 in order to give Obama an early victory in his home state.
Meanwhile, officials in California, New Jersey and Florida are considering the same move, with an eye toward having more influence in determining the outcome of the next presidential election.
Not to be outdone, Iowa and New Hampshire, the two states that traditionally launch the presidential primary season, have vowed to remain first at all costs, much to the chagrin of Rep. Madigan.
“These states are not representative of mainstream America,” he says. “They’re clearly not as representative of America as Illinois would be, but…recent history tells us that the selection process may be finished before it reaches the Illinois primary.”
Regardless of which candidate may benefit from these proposed changes, the changes themselves are coming. In a race to control the electoral process, primary election dates are being moved up, thereby forcing an ever more protracted presidential campaign season.
It is time for a single-date, national presidential primary election system.
Before the 1970s, presidential candidates were chosen not so much by primary election voters as by delegates at national political conventions and power brokers in smoke-filled back rooms. Since that time, the nominating conventions have gone from being actual political events covered gavel-to-gavel by the television networks to today’s dog-and-pony shows with selected highlights featured in prime time for the benefit of an increasingly shrinking audience.
For decades, Iowans have prided themselves on the fact that their political caucuses are the introductory test of presidential candidates in both parties. Likewise, New Hampshire is equally proud of its first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
In truth, these two states have little impact in actually selecting the nominee of the Republican or Democratic parties. For example, do you recall who won the Iowa Republican caucuses in 1988? Bob Dole. Know who came in second? Pat Robertson. The eventual nominee and the 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush, came in third in Iowa that year.
Former U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas defeated Bill Clinton in the 1992 New Hampshire primary.
And in 1996, Dole lost in New Hampshire to Pat Buchanan, but went on to become the GOP nominee.
As individual states jockey for position to become the most significant in choosing our presidential candidates, the process becomes less of a national selection process and more of an early primary beauty contest. Voters in states with late primaries, especially if they are small, have little or no impact on the selection of presidential nominees.
The time has come for our presidential candidates, who are vying for our one national office, to be selected not through a hodge-podge system of competing state primaries, but rather through a national election held on a single day, preferably in September (November general elections are a throwback to a predominantly agrarian society that no longer exists in America).
Imagine a process whereby no presidential candidate could file or begin raising money until September 1st of the year before the election. Candidates would then have nine months to campaign for their party’s nomination. On June 1st, a nationwide primary election would select the nominees of the political parties. Three months later, on September first, the general election would select the next president. Political conventions would become a thing of the past.
During the primary election season, candidates could participate in a series of three debates (one every 90 days). During the general election season, three more debates could be held (one every thirty days). In addition to the nominees of the two major political parties, the third party nominee who showed him or herself to be the most viable in national opinion polls could also participate in these nationally televised general election debates.
These are common sense ideas that should shorten what are becoming interminable election campaign seasons. Otherwise, we may have to return to the smoke-filled back rooms.
© Copyright 2007 by Doug Patton
(Printer friendly version) Email: Doug Patton
