There have been a myriad of calls for changes to our Democratic Primary system, with the simply stated goal of making the process better. Of course, what makes a "better" system is open to interpretation, but most can agree that any reforms be beneficial to the voters and the Party.
Of course, simply stated goals often have complex solutions. The idea of abolishing limited-participation Caucus contests sounds good at first, until you read how effectively Kos made the case for the Caucus. Same-day hybrid systems would seem to have the best of both worlds, until you go back and look at the mess that was the Texas contest from this year and the shenanigans in both the campaigns and media surrounding the question of who "won" Texas. Changing to a National Primary/Caucus Day could solve the Iowa/NH problem while creating still greater new ones.
The solution I hit upon follows after the fold.
Introducing the State Caucus, National Primary Plan. Each state will have both a statewide Democratic Caucus on its own schedule, and a Democratic Primary which will be on a National Primary Day.
First to occur would be the Caucuses, with each state allocating a large minority of their delegates based on the per-precinct Caucus results. The Caucus contests would be grouped in batches of 5 contests a week for 11 weeks, which includes a Territory contest batch, and going forward those batches could be rotated each Election. This gives the Season a good run in the Media without dragging it out indefinitely, and gives the Party a chance to build in every state every time, since the end of the season (the National Primary) will be be clearly defined as being after these contests.
Most Primary-Election fields start large, with support spread out among several candidates. A national single-day election with a large field is problematic, since "winning" with only 1/3rd of the vote creates a poor media narrative and potentially upsets the majority of the party's voters. The 11-week contest allows the field to be narrowed, while the early voters get another chance at the remaining choice on National Primary Day.
Having the Caucuses first maximizes their Party-Building potential, since those brought in by the Caucuses can be kept in the mix with the later Primary instead of just going missing until the General Election. The Caucus-first format also means that the National Primary field will be narrowed/set by the most energized members of the Party, and the final Nominee will be someone both the activists and public at large have voted for and can embrace.
National Primary Day would be exactly what it sounds like, a single day for all states and territories to have as many voters as possible cast their ballot and then allocate the Majority of their delegates based on the results. Preferably this would be a mail-in ballot, to be as inclusive as possible. The one-day Primary puts the emphasis of a National contest where it deserves to be, the the voters, and eliminates the ability of a single candidate to drag the season out any longer by holding up questionable criteria or inaccurate data as their justification.
As an added bonus, National Primary Day can serve as the impetus to curtail or end the Superdelegate Drama by both proving a pledged delegate win and a clear snapshot of the will of the Party nationwide at the same time.
In the end, the benefits of this format can be broken down to 2 key points:
- It preserves the positive aspects of the multi-week primary season by winnowing the field and giving more states' voters and activists more influence over the result.
- It keeps the will of the most voters as the most powerful force for assigning the delegates who choose the nominee, while also giving the Party its best chance to build itself and set the field with good candidates.
If that's all we're able to accomplish, we'll have accomplished much.