1 All excellent points.  Can't think of anything to add.

2

A state may NOT vote at the GOP National Convention [on the question of the next GOP presidential candidate] unless it voted at the previous Electoral College for the previous GOP presidential candidate.

E.g. hard blue states like California are FORBIDDEN to influence the choice of the national candidate.

 

3

You hit the nail on the head. This is absolutely the worst primary season ever, and the RNC deserves a lot of the blame.

4

I agree with them, but our state parties are filled with idiots. I can vouch for this.

I do think you need some signatures to get on the ballot, otherwise ever jackass with a thousand dollars to waste can get on the ballot. The whole point of petitions(signatures) is to prove that voters want you on the ballot.

Here is PA, I think it's 2,000 signatures for statewide office. I think that along with a fee should be sufficient. I do think VAs rules were too strict.

 

 

5 I don't agree with "basically be over" at all.  With over 1000 delegates needed to win the gold I don't expect Willard to be much over 400 after today.

6 Does anybody know what "prolapse" means?

7

*every

*in not is

8 I like early voting in that it lessens the impact of "October Surprises" and I like to go in the Saturday before to the nice Supervisor of Elections office rather than the crappy 55+ trailer park. But I agree with everything else.

9 >>A state may NOT vote at the GOP National Convention [on the question of the next GOP presidential candidate]unless it voted at the previous Electoral College for the previous GOP presidentialcandidate.
E.g. hard blue states like Californiaare FORBIDDEN toinfluence the choice of the national candidate.



That's bad for swing states. But I see your point re: California.

Perhaps reward delegates based on a formula of electoral votes given and % of previous vote for GOP.

10 OK, so how do you "close" a primary in a state where people don't register by party to begin with...and in states where they do, nowadays everyone's a proud independent, doncha know, so how could they participate?

These criticisms are more like critiquing a TV show.   But in reality you have people at the local and state level who actually get out there and yeah spend an hour, usually  more like two, physically participating in party politics.  They work at this stuff.  

And what if every network and other organizations want to have debates?  are you going to stop them?   Local candidates get invited to lots of forums and shit, too, and if they try to pass because they're a "waste of time," then they get hammered for not being there..you can't win.

11 Iowa and NH do not represent mainstream republicans.  I read a good system in the comments some months ago.  Small states, then medium states, then large states with lotteries to determine order within the bracket.  Of course, how you would enforce that is anybody's guess.

12

Using IE 9 on Windows 7 [can't get any more modern than that] and I'm still seeing gibberish when I post.

 

Is anyone home?

 

BTW, you are shedding your best writers like f***ing cat dander.

 

 

13 To you point #1. In some state only a few hundred people show up for a caucus. (if weather is bad etc...) So the low turnout percentage screws the real intent of most voters. So I agree. The caucus system, in the middle of winter, is not working.

14 All fine ideas, Drew. But, they amount to trying to stop the Titanic on a dime. The System will resist all these things and it will win because "good is dumb".

15 Iowa is just absurd because the social conservatives gets to push their Jesus candidate first which in this case Santorum squeeked by 8 votes.

16

prolapse- noun, plural of prolap, which is a person who likes him some lap.

17

Agree with all of this and I am a Romney supporter.  Especially about the debates, there were way too many of them and they were controlled by liberals.  Why didn't we have a forum like we had in 2008 with Rick Warren or some other national religious figure?  This was a very illuminating forum in which Barack Obama made one of his earliest and biggest gaffes when he said deciding when life begins is "above my pay grade," while John McCain probably won the nomination when he said "at conception."   Maybe we can at least get National Review or some conservative publication do do some candidate forums where conservatives ask the questions.  Maybe by 2012 NR will have its own cable TV channel, or Breitbart will.  We definitely need one of those.

 

I do think it should take more than a few bucks to get on the ballot though.  We do not want every clown with $1000 to be on the ballot.  The MSM will enjoy focusing on the lunatic frings candidates that will inevtiably get on the ballot in many states and not on the serious guys and gals.  10,000 signatures may be too many, but 2-3,000 shouldn't be. 

 

Also, NO proportional delegate assignment!  Every state should be winner-take-all.  That will help decide the nominee pretty quickly. 

18 2- Close the primaries. If you can't be bothered enough to register for a party you don't get to help shape its future. You know why I don't get to vote on matters at the Microsoft share holder meeting? I don't own stock in Microsoft. You want a say in how something is run, get some skin in the game. Registering as a member of the party is a pretty low threshold but an important one.

This x1000.  Also, exclude fringe crazy uncle types from the debates.

19

"Iowa and NH do not represent mainstream republicans."

 

THIS.

 

Hell, they both voted for the Kenyan in 2008 [didn't they?].

 

Get those damned marxists the hell outta the party.

 

 

 

20 @11 Actually NH is closer to mainstream Republicans when compared to Iowa.

21 >>>Iowa is just absurd because the social conservatives gets to push their Jesus candidate first which in this case Santorum squeeked by 8 votes.

Quick get your mining gear. I've found a vein of weapons grade stupid.

22

I don't agree with "basically be over" at all. With over 1000 delegates needed to win the gold I don't expect Willard to be much over 400 after today.

Meh, this is pie in the sky thinking.  Every primary is won before the needed number of delegates are assigned.

Romney will probably win 6-7 states today. Gingrich will probably win GA. That would further split the not-Mitt vote.

Santorum and Gingrich can't seem to raise money(which should worry people who want them to actually win the primary as a lot of money is needed to beat Obama).

I said about a year and a half ago(too lazy to find it), that Mitt would probably win because it was his turn. I didn't want him. I backed Pawlenty, then Perry.  However, I've resigned myself to the inevitability of Mitt.

There are simply too many Mitt states left that have large amounts of delegates like California, New York, and Illinois.

If this was a two person race, then I'd say Mitt could lose, but Gingrich has already stated that he's staying in the race beyond today. That cinches it for Romney in the same way that Huckabee staying in in 2008 cinched it for McCain.

23 I was at the Washington state GOP caucus on Saturday and turnout was really high.  We had 21 votes in our precinct and the PCO said in the past it has averaged maybe 8, been a few times when nobody showed.

24 My response would be he's playing within the rules as they are set up now and good for him. I just think a lot of the rules and laws we have now don't reflect the media and technological world we live in and bringing them up to date will serve all of us better.

I agree with both points and hope fervently that we can all now move on to the main task at hand.  Iowa and NH need to go.  I suggest that it be a rotating system.  Went first this time?  Good for you.  Now you move to the back of the line.

25 I like early voting.  I could see limiting early voting to the weekend prior to the official date but I'd hate to see it gotten rid of altogether.

26 >>>Actually NH is closer to mainstream Republicans

You've never even heard of the west or the south have you?

27 Idaho requires photo ID to vote.

Pope out.

28

As for the debates. The GOP should staff their own debates and then sell the rights to whatever network wants to buy them.

 

Sure the networks will be pissed at first, but they will still want the ratings that debates bring. I think the GOP should do that.

 

 

29 It's over; Romney gets nominated, squashes Hussein in Nov. --  Deal with it

30 Excellent suggestions. 

Or we could adopt the method that W.C. Fields once suggested: ie all of the candidates are given sweat socks packed with horse manure and set loose in a boxing ring.

Last one standing is the nominee.

31 Via Mallamutt on the other thread

74 And if you have not done so.....sign the Iowahawk petition at the White
House dot gov site demanding the Obama Administration resign.

Come on people......we have to have more signatures than the one
demanding Rush be removed from Arm Force radio. And I can't stand
Limbaugh and I was willing to do this.
Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at March 06, 2012 11:26 AM (OWjjx)

in my name link below And here in text:
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/resign/SvJr4Q9h

32 #7  Newt  Gingrich  must  be  required to show  up  at  all  debates  and  all  pro-democrat  hack  Sunday  morning  "news"  programs.

33

"You guys have any suggestions?"

 

Move your asses out of the big cities and into small rural towns.

 

If you have the resources, buy farmland.

 

The ideas in the post are all fine. None of them will be implemented.

 

that is all

 

34 >>>"You guys have any suggestions?"

I like caucuses. Keeps the casual voter at bay.

35 'early voting' is a good idea, in that it decreases the influence of paid / funded / 'activist' groups, and gives non-wonks more opportunity to vote

36 I voted this morning. Though I'm 99.5% sure I'll have to vote for one of the Final Four in November, I used MA's rules to request a Democrat ballot, as I'm registered as "unenrolled."

I suspect a lot of people hereabouts wrote in Vermin Supreme for president (he's a local boy) instead of putting an "X" after Osama Obama's name. I did.

If Verm can grab the nomination against the stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable traitor, I may vote Democrat in the Fall election. That would be the first time. Ever.

Re: Drew's rules. I'm for 'em.

37 You know what? I think most people would be happy if only independents could vote in primaries. After all, who better to decide who appeals to independents than they? We conservatives can only screw thing up right? With our focus on things like abortion.

38 Agree with everything you've said. The best debates were the ones that were done in conjunction with conservative groups--IIRC, the American Enterprise Insititute, Heritage, and some others. Even if we have to run them on MSM, there needs to be some serious conservative input. I think CNN did these, and Wolf Blitzer was better than the other leftist moderators. No more debates on ABC or CBS--ever.

39 Get in the fucking Kennel, already!

40 Its a done deal The final analysis is its better to have a Mitt as Prez looking over his right shoulder than a Bush looking over his left shoulder. Lets saddle up and go scalp some community organizers. I'm done with being perplexed, I just want to see my enemies strewn across the battlefield and listen to the lamentations of the media. Regulators up!

41 Get rid of the New Hampshire primary. Those fucks voted for, in order, Romney, Paul, and Huntsman. I can't think of a more disgraceful top three.

42

"You guys have any suggestions?"

 

Pistols at dawn?

43

What difference does it make?  All are better than Obama.

Just DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF STAYING HOME!!

All are better than Obama.

44 I love your rules, Drew! Especially only closed to registered R or D voters. That's not that onerous. One can always switch from party to party if you're really into that sort of thing and an "independent." Vermin Supreme! that would rock Mr Scribbler!

45 Hasn't Santorum won as many caucus states as Romney?

46 Regional primaries that lump several contiguious states together.  Then rotate the order that regions vote in. See Jim Geraghty at NRO for more details. 

47 PS I'm not signing a damn thing at Whitehouse.gov. I'm wayyyyy too paranoid for that. I trust Ace tho, of course.

48

All nice in theory. But all you are talking about is a process which determines if you get horse, elephant, whale, or dog shit rubbed on your face. No matter what you're still fucked and it aint gonna taste good. We're Greece ... it's not if, but when.

49

A bit off topic, but not by much.

 

Obama, in a campaign speech to AIPAC, told the group that the U.S. will not tolerate a nuclear armed Iran.  Jews in the audience clapped as if they believed him.  So, how is this going to play out?

 

At some point in the near future, ObamaÂ’s CIA director is going to walk into his office and say that the intelligence services of England, Germany, France and Israel all concur that Iran is on the brink of having the bomb.  When asked if our own analysts think so, the director will tell him itÂ’s a “slam dunk”.

 

Obama will ask if anyone disagrees with this assessment and the director will tell him that of course, there are those who say the nuclear program in Iran is strictly a civilian energy project.  “Nothing”, the CIA head will say, “is 100% sure in our business”.  Obama may just send Joe Biden to speak with the lower level people at the CIA that look at the raw data, just to be sure there is no misunderstanding or some pro-war faction placing their thumb on the scale.  Honest Joe would report back that, given the knowledge they have, Iran seems ready to assemble a device.

 

At this point, the Jews who populated the room at the AIPAC speech would be relying on Obama to err on the side of protecting Israel and fulfill his promise to take action.

 

They will be disappointed.

50 Last caucus I went to, all they wanted to talk about was abortion.  Well, there was this one guy who talked about some foreign(?) guy named 'Teh Ekonomy' or something like that.

Besides, all the delegates were selected by the old boys/girls network.  One took me aside and said, "We all know each other so vote for each other to go to the next level.  All you new people have no chance."  There's an establishment at all levels.

There's only one perfect candidate, and I'm not running.  :-)

51

You know, guys, I'm not going to say outrageous things about the President.

52 Little know fact.  At Georgetown my nether regions serve as a polling place.

53 Iowa is just absurd because the social conservatives gets to push their Jesus candidate first

So committed Christians should not be allowed a voice in the party?  Nice big tent you got there, wish I was invited in.

54 Voted in Tennessee today, from the people who stopped Al Gore from being President. I always love to say that...so I just did.

55 nowadays everyone's a proud independent, doncha know, so how could they participate?

Posted by: jeanne... at March 06, 2012 11:28 AM (GdalM)

 

 

 

Better if they don't participate.  They don't have anything to contribute.  The right system is to force the mush in the middle to make a choice between two extremes.  That's the only way their uninformed brains will have a shot at making a good choice.  Independent types will saddle us with McCain-ish types.

 

56 >> PS I'm not signing a damn thing at Whitehouse.gov.
I'm wayyyyy too paranoid for that. I trust Ace tho, of course.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at March 06, 2012 11:44 AM (SB0V2)

I had the same reaction yesterday. But then someone pointed out that SCOAMF's minions probably already have us on the lists to be first to the camps just because we post here at the HQ.

57

PS I'm not signing a damn thing at Whitehouse.gov.

I'm wayyyyy too paranoid for that. I trust Ace tho, of course.

 

Posted by: BlackOrchid at March 06, 2012 11:44 AM (SB0V2)

 

I was going to until I found out I had to create an account. As much as I support the cause, well, just, no.

58

Can anyone imagine John Kerry saying during the 2004 primary: "I'm not going to say outrageous things about President Bush"?

59 move blue state primaries to the very end. Red and battle ground states get first say. If you haven't elected a conservative to national office in a couple decades, the rest of us don't give a shit who you prefer for the nomination.

60 States should hold their primaries in small groups, like 5 at a time, not in drips and drabs like IA, then NH, then FL... Also, the order of the states should be picked at random every 4 years. As a resident of CA, I'm tired of election after election only being given the choice between 2 RINOs, if there is even a choice at all.

61
FYI
Carbonite is at a new 52 week low currently at $8.80 compare to a 52 week high of $21.10.

62 Suggestion: Levy a fine on registered voters who don't vote. 

63 Disagree mightily with #4 (lower ballot access requirements).  There's no benefit I can see to opening up the ballot to disorganized "campaigns in name only."  It would only encourage distraction candidates and trivialize the process.  If I'm voting in a primary, I want to vote for a guy who can demonstrate the organizational ability to not only get on a ballot, but has enough statewide appeal to show me he's serious.

64 You guys notice that we always end up voting for the moderate who was the "best conservative" in the last election? Mitt, with his economic experience, was more conservative than that liberal McCain, who was far more conservative than Bush, who was way more conservative than bob dole... Maybe we just aren't as "conservative" as we like to think? Hell, Bush won in 2000 on a message of more government compassion, and military non-intervention, which would be described as a "blame America first socialist" in today's language. Santorum is the "most conservative" now because he wants to continue the nanny state, and next year, conservatives will call him a statist, a progressive, a big government republican. But, he does want to stop the gays and bomb Iran, so he's the most conservative. I'm not even mad that everyone thinks that Ron Paul is crazy. I'm pissed that no one has even come close as an alternative in the republican party. We've got proponents of bailouts, big govt, nanny staters and the crazy guy who wants to follow the constitution. Not one other candidate can consistently stand for the constitution. Not one.

65 Oooh. My Colorado State Supreme Court did something good. It has ruled that CU students can carry licensed guns on campus. Have to check on that "licensed" part but this sounds like good news. 

66 Agree with all, especially with keeping the MSM out of Republican debates. Next time around, all the candidates should be encouraged to agree not to participate in any debates on the major MSM networks. And please, please, please ditch Iowa and New Hampshire going first.

67 Carbonite is at a new 52 week low currently at $8.80 compare to a 52 week high of $21.10.Posted by: YIKES! at March 06, 2012 11:51 AM

That's not a green energy company, is it?

68 It's like NASCAR.  The lead car can cut a tire and slam into the wall at any second.

69 I like the ideas, Drew. Why on earth does freakin Iowa have such a huge impact? If I were in charge.. a solid red state would go first... like... Texas.

70 I basically agree with all your points.

And, not only does early voting favor one or more candidates in these primaries (for instance Santorum may do better in places like Ohio where people voted weeks ago), it helps Obama big time.

All the community activists out there are stuffing the ballots through this early voting system.  it must stop!

71 No one paid attention to your sock Chris so you had to respond to yourself?

72 hahaha @ "next time" There is not gonna be a next time. The Republican will be nearly extinct by 2016.

73

All excellent points, but I'm actually in favor of a nationwide primary.  Don't understand why certain (and especially THESE certain) states get so much influence.

The general is done over several months, why should the primary be?

74 62 Suggestion: Levy a fine on registered voters who don't vote. What if you don't want to give any of them your consent to govern? This guy will steal x amount of dollars from my check, this guy will steal y amount, but if I don't choose, you're going to take z amount anyway?

75 Thunderdome!

76 Love your "ideas", although I disagree that they are ideas - they are just good common sense.  I want to keep early voting, though.  I travel a lot, and have to vote absentee a lot.  The various clerks and Secretaries of elections that I've had to deal with over the years is not always a happy, competent gang; early voting has been a godsend to me.

77 Hold more primaries on the same days. For example, every tuesday (or every other tuesday), hold 5 primaries, in very different states (large, small, southern, northern, rural, urban).

78 Set the primary order by:

Republican governor
Republican senator %
Republican representative %

None of the Iowa goes first because they want it that way

79 When I registered to vote in Texas last year, I asked if I should put a party preference on the form.  The clerk explained to me that your party was selected depending on which primary you voted in.  Not that we are ever going to have a primary, despite what the story in the paper said the other day.

80 Caucuses suck.  End those and you end a lot of the bull in the primaries.

(that is also a king for a day suggestion, I realize)

81 If we lose to Obama, lose the House, and not gain the Senate, we will have a Congress and an Executive who will be enacting laws that cannot be revoked by less than 2/3 majorities in the chambers. That's in Obamacare, btw. Even though the bill passed with barely a majority, the Democrats made it so it cannot be repealed with less than 2/3 majority. Plus, we will have 5, maybe 6 extreme leftist Justices on the Court under the age of 65. Plus Cap and Trade. Plus amnesty. Plus giving up our sovereignty to the UN. Plus the takeover the energy industry. There is no 2016. 2012 is our last stand to save our republic.

82 How about a big raffle for all the position of power in government.  All registered voters are in.  You employer is required to give you your job back after your term.  That is if you want it back, because you were not able to steal enough to live off of for the rest of your life.

83 I'm tired of seeing politicians in business suits. They should have to wear coveralls like NASCAR drivers with sponsor logos on them proportionate to the size of their top 20 donations from PACs or individuals. They're all bought, I'd just like for the American public to know by whom.

84 @82... right on Soothie. 2012 is our last stand. I dont care who is the nominee... I will support them. Obama has to go.

85 <i>74 62 Suggestion: Levy a fine on registered voters who don't vote.

What if you don't want to give any of them your consent to govern? This guy will steal x amount of dollars from my check, this guy will steal y amount, but if I don't choose, you're going to take z amount anyway?</i>

1) Then show up but don't mark your ballot for that position.
2) Make the tough choices.  I ain't at all happy about a Romney / Santorum / Gingrich / Paul primary, but that's what I'll face and, dammit, that's what I'll have to decide on.
3) Rescind your registration (and blow off the down-ticket stuff).
4) Pay the fine.

Voting is not a civil right, it's a civic duty.

86 If Romney does well today and the others drop out, then the media have seven months to mock him, savage him, and make up lies about him. The longer their insane hate is focused on Santorum or Gingrich, the better.

87 OMG! Listening to some "Irish" music on SonicTap and they just played some turn of the century -1930's American tunes for about 45 min. It's like every Polack joke you've ever heard, all wrapped up w/ a soulfull tenor and some fiddles. (Not gonna lie, I laughed even at some of the more crude charachterizations -Stupid Bastards! Haha!!-) I thought that nothing could ever top the deserved vitriol that the friggan, Scandi ice-backs get here on this site but DAMN! That's some bigoted shit they had going on 90 years before the intarwebz. So, what would 1920's Ace be doing? Punching holes into scrolls meant to feed an old timey player piano, I imagine. That and breaking his mother's heart. Kind of a given, if pop music is to be believed...

88 I agree with all the points, but the most important issue was not discussed hardly at all - the issue of which states go first. 

There should be one single date for all the primaries - say the first Tuesday in April.  This solves several problems all at once.  Most importantly, doing it this way forces all the candidates to run a nation-wide campaign.  This will provide a good example of the skill of the candidate's campaign manager and team and would provide a clear indication of which candidate is capable of running well in the general.

Second, it would help to weed out candidates like Luap Nor since they would have to be well financed in order to compete.   If you are not well financed it's usually for a good reason.

Third, having the candidate selected early in the process would help take away the power of the incumbency.  Who wouldn't agree that many times in history we've seen Presidents elected to a second term that really didn't deserve it (Bill Clinton?).

89 My guess is that Super Tuewsday will be inconclusive and we'll see the fight go to the wire, like the Democratic Party one did in 2008. Oh, how that hurt them.

90 I sort of disagree with the closed primaries.  As a conservative, I absolutely refuse to be forced into associating directly with the Republican party.  Now, I'm going to have to register as a damn dirty Rep. 

My state GOP changed their process this year without proper notification, and thus my vote was not counted in the "Presidential Preference Election," when it was counted the last two Presidential Primaries.  Note the terminology difference.

If you're going to close the primaries, at least send notices to the voters so they can register with the Party in time to vote (1 month before the voting takes place).

I believe that all Primaries should be held on the same day, as with the General Election.  No more of the East Coast deciding who wins the nomination.  Hold several months of debate, then have one big, nationwide primary.

91 If Romney does well today and the others drop out, then the media have seven months to mock him, savage him, and make up lies about him. You're absolutely right, T. That's why it is imperative that Romney immediately go on offense. He must keep the Obama, the Left, and the media on their heels. If Romney doesn't attack, he will indeed lose.

92 @26 Of course I have. You should have read what I typed more closely. They are more closer to mainstream Republicans than Iowa.

93 Fuck Iowa. That is all.

94 I agree with every single one of these, including the bit about Iowa and NH going first. I am not sure how feasible it would be but who goes first should be rotated every year. Excellent post of ideas that the Republican Party will ignore.

95 The states should be weighed based on the % R vote in the previous presidential election, multiplied against a ratio of the population. You cant just toss CA, NY, IL out. thats fucking stupid, especially since a thrid of the entire republican vote lives there. But weigh the states, and arrange them in the primary calender, from most R to least. That makes sense.

96 "80 When I registered to vote in Texas last year, I asked if I should put a party preference on the form. The clerk explained to me that your party was selected depending on which primary you voted in."

Huh, that's interesting.  I voted there once and it was the only place I ever voted where you pulled a lever for a whole slate.

Anyway, according to this, only 8 states have registration by party.  And supposedly voters are "leaving the parties in droves" so a closed primary is going to exclude the independents from participating.   Voting in a primary gives them sort of an emotional investment in the candidate. It would suck to lose that.

97

puppehtoff

98 Oh, so the link thing doesn't work either?  Story is here.   http://preview.tinyurl.com/d5bo7ue

Only 8 states use party registration...that really surprised me.

99 It's worse than that, soothie. If Obama gets re-elected:

-- Dems roll back homeschooling and impose NEA control on private schools. All children born after 2008 will get lifetime Democrat indoctrination.
-- "Hate Speech" laws will shut down any opposition media.
-- And Web sites. Expect a Chinese-style "Great Firewall" to keep that nasty racist Republican hate speech off of America's laptops.
-- Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation (to make the debt go away) accompanied by nationalization of the banking industry.
-- Regulation of virtually every aspect of daily life in the name of stopping Evil Carbon emissions.
-- Waivers for Obama-connected businesses to create a Putin-style kleptocracy.
-- Oh, and almost certainly a nuclear war in the Middle East.

I don't care if Mitt Romney raped your dog in front of you when you were little, you all have to go out and vote for him, volunteer to drive people to the polls for him, man call centers for him, donate money, watch at the polls, and do whatever it takes to send Barack Motherfucking Obama back to fucking Indonesia.

100

88If Romney does well today and the others drop out, then the media have seven months to mock him, savage him, and make up lies about him. The longer their insane hate is focused on Santorum or Gingrich, the better.

 

You forget that Mittens has 7 months to target Sparkles rather than play wack a mole with the seven dwarfs. If the media hits, then turn the tables and speak of the economy, foreign policy screw ups, and loss of Constitutional rights. Its really that simple. ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID. Remember that plan?

 

I did not want Mittens - I wanted that guy from Texas. But I have decided a Mittens looking over his right shoulder is better than a candidate that thinks he has my vote in the bag. Further, I really do think Mittens will appeal to the squishy middle, soccer moms and all. Just repeat  - ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID and Mitt has experience turning around loosing businesses. Ofucktard, not so much.

101 I believe that all Primaries should be held on the same day, Posted by: soulpile is... expendable at March 06, 2012 12:12 PM (NJpM7) This is a brilliant idea, forces candidates to declare early so they can get their ground game going, and would play up the strengths of the state R gops where necessary as a precursor to the general election.

102 Anyway, good luck getting the state parties and local central committees to listen to the suggestions of armchair political junkies.

103

>>If Romney doesn't attack, he will indeed lose.

 

Look at what Romney has done to Gingrich, Perry and Santorum.

Does anyone doubt he will savage Obama?

 

I think the point he was making is that he's not going to make any stupid over the top comments about Obama that would only play with people like us and turn off the average voter. 

Besides, he can let his superpac savage Obama while he keeps it relatively clean.

104 Random Thoughts by Thomas Sowell (cause I got nothing new to add to the discussion)

http://tinyurl.com/7adxbt2

105 If Romney doesn't attack, he will indeed lose. McCain lost the last election because of his retarded suspension of the campaign. They were up by alot within good margins against Obama and he refused to deal with attacking Obama so he could vote for the bailout. But McCain had to lose by a huge margin anyways just to vote for a 900 billion bailout bullshit deal.

106 Agree to all six points.

I also like delegates being awarded proportionally.  Keeps the race going longer, and allows a full vetting of candidates.  I'm ambivalent about our current remaining choices, but I'd prefer that the Anti-national Socialist Workers Party not have a single target to focus on right now.

107 My added point: All primaries must be no earlier than the first Tuesday in March, and no later than the last Tuesday in May.

108 End winner take all primaries

109 I would support any change that permanently ends the ass kissing of those retards in Iowa. Also, there should be some type of motorsport, firearms and musical competition involved in the primary race - preferably combined into one awesome event.

110

#49 - Posted by: jwest at March 06, 2012 11:45 AM (FdndL)

 

I've thought about this a lot lately and disagree. This is "Obama's rabbit out of the hat" that will be his last, best shot at getting re-elected. The campaign will not be going well for him, and around the middle of October, he will unleash. His new and improved "I killed Osama moment", 2 weeks before the election.

 

All hell will break loose of course, on the energy front, and oil prices will double. A situation not fully apparent until after the elections. Boom! Double whammy. Obliteration of the energy (fossil fuels) market as we know it and 4 more years to permanently destroy the country.

111 >>>Of course I have. You should have read what I typed more closely. They are more closer to mainstream Republicans than Iowa.

The last 3 Republican Presidents have been from the West/South. Iowa is a lot closer to that than NH. The concept of "mainstream" is usually defined to benefit progressivism within the democrat party, and their enablers within the north east Republicans; al - la the Maine twins, Specter et al. When I hear talking about "mainstream" republicans, what I hear, is someone who wants a slower transition to socialism, not someone who wants to stop it. i.e. center left, not center right, or out of the mainstream.

112 They should hand out 'I Voted Today' condoms.

113 It's good to be the king, baby.

114
Have a lottery to choose the Repub/Libertarian candidate.

We'll come out better.

115 Only kinda sorta semi related. Live in the DC area, and I heard this reported on the radio. There was a road sign over the interstate that came down - no one was injured. So the radio station went around asked "the man on the street" what they thought. A couple of DC residents, and let me go ahead and denounce myself for presuming that their speech patterns led me to believe that they were African American, said that the government should do something, everything, to keep such things from happening. The third person said (again, denounce, speech patterns, not African American, blah blah blah) well the government has experts, they know what they are doing, I am sure that if it were a problem they would do something about it. Further guessing from our demographics that this person was a government employee, but that is totally a guess. This, my friends, is our problem. Both of these responses are what conservatives have to run against. (and Sandra Fluke - but that's another story) The first is something bad happened - well, no, not really, could have happened, the government should spare no expense, should do everything possible to ensure it could never, ever happen. The other is the total faith that if the government is doing somethng about something, its because something must be done, conversely, if they are ignoring something, its because it should be ignored. This is the world we are running in. We are doomed, big time.

116 I did not want Mittens - I wanted that guy from Texas. Paul is still running.

117
"Tulsa on my Mind."

Original score by Sandra Fluke's many boyfriends.

118

This election is already lost. Obama hasn't laid a glove on Romney hardly, and he already leads him in the polls. Romney's unfavorable numbers are extraordinarily high for an "electable" candidate. Romney also has zero appeal to anyone who is not rich or a "severe conservative". I know that's a harsh statement, but it reflects the reality of how this race has gone as well.

 

His entire campaign has been based on two things: smearing his opponents and shamelessly lying about himself to get votes. But Obama is going to be able to smear him back, and besides the voters already know Obama. And people will quickly realize just how dishonestly desperate Romney is as the campaign unfolds.

 

What we're doing here is grasping at straws. No different than Hitler in his bunker in 1945. We so dread Obama's re-election, that we are unwilling to confront it as a possibility, when in fact, it is by far the most probable outcome.

119 Drew,

Great list and I agree with all of them except for the early voting part.  I like convenience of not having it compressed to one day, even though my state's primaries occur so late there is rarely much of a line.  More importantly, if you show up to vote early, I would hope that you are a fairly committed partisan for that candidate.  If there is any doubt in your mind, you should wait until the actual primary day.  I just can't see that there are a lot of voters who were so sold on a candidate that they went out and early voted for them, then changed their minds over the ensuing week or so. 

Again, great list

120 I am proud to say that the first thing I did today was to go downtown Brattleboro and write in Presdent Obama's name on the Republi-Dummy Ballot. Many of my friends and partners also did the same today. This was the main topic today down at the Brattleboro womens reproductive Health Clinc Community Meeting which I lead to protect womens health from Gingrich and Santerioum.

121 My mistake, I thought 'election night' was 'erection night.'

122
That's why it is imperative that Romney immediately go on offense. He must keep the Obama, the Left, and the media on their heels.
If Romney doesn't attack, he will indeed lose.
Posted by: soothie at


I'm not going to attack them personally. I mean, I know that's fun, but it's just not productive.

And we need, as a nation, to come together to recognize that even though we have differing views about the country and about where we should go, we all love the country. And I recognize that among Democrats and among Republicans. I want to lead the country. I don't want to castigate half of Americans.

Mitt Romney - To Larry Kudrow - via RCP today



Well, so much for that Attaque a Outrance strategy....

123 Yeah, and the other story. Ran across something a random guy I know on FB had posted that was an utter distortion of what Rush had said - and these women jumped all over me and how they pay for their health care an no one can tell them what they can or can not do. Again, I will denounce myself, but I am sure if they were talking rather than posting on FB it would have sounded very screechy. The Dems have that demographic sewn up. The facts are not important, no man can ever tell a woman what to do, ever, and if you think that there could ever be an exception to that, you are a misogynist and anyone you support must also be a misogyinst. So we have that going for us.

124

You're thinking I had sex with Monica Lewinski, but that was just a Fluke.

125 Does anyone doubt he will savage Obama? It is my main concern. My hope is that Romney wants to win at all costs.

126
>>96 Fuck Iowa. That is all.
Posted by: DanInMN

Klobuchar. Ellison. Dayton. AL FLUKEFUCKER FRANKEN.

Get the fucking forest out of your own eye before you start bitching about twigs in others.

127 Purple and red states get to hold the primaries first. Blue states get to hold primary last. Hopefully candidate will be decided by the time we reach blue state primaries.

128 >>>McCain lost the last election because of his retarded suspension of the campaign. They were up by alot within good margins against Obama and he refused to deal with attacking Obama so he could vote for the bailout. But McCain had to lose by a huge margin anyways just to vote for a 900 billion bailout bullshit deal.

That is revisionist history at its very best. He was never up by a good margin. There were times he had a slim lead within margin of error. He didn't lose because he suspended his campaign. He lost because he never started one. The crash evaporated what sliver of lead he had. And while the left was using the downturn to scaremonger against further Republican leadership, he refused to say there were serious concerns with turning over reigns to Obama. "We have nothing to fear". While the press was blaming Bush for the crash, he couldn't be bothered to point out the democrat policies that were its foundation.

129


Giggity.

130 I should have sex with each candidate on super tuesday.. then whoever is the best in bed wins the nomination.

131 well, then, if Mitt thinks he can win with some kumbaya shit, he's in for a big letdown.

132 Ms. Fluck is welcome in Brattleboro as ahero for Womens Health Rights. We are proud of her accomplishments and tearing down that racist fat slob Limball !!!

133 1: Yeah 2: States would have to change...not gonna happen. 3: Yeah. 4: No. Just no. If you can't find 10k sigs in a state of 8,096,604 (2011 est) people, you suck; the game isn't against you. 5: Yeah. 6: No. If you want to suppress important constituencies that's a good way to do it. (Hi elderly and disabled.) Also, people talking about a formulaic for rewarding the ability to send delegates...No, if you think this was bad you'd HATE what would happen when you start that kind of tinkering.

134 I'm very patriotic because my girl parts stretch from sea to shining sea.

135 >>Ran across something a random guy I know on FB had posted that was an utter distortion of what Rush had said - and these women jumped all over me and how they pay for their health care an no one can tell them what they can or can not do.

I had the same thing show up on my FB...a "man" telling ME about how I'm a vile hatey oppressor of womyns because I saw nothing wrong with Rush calling a slut a slut, or expecting women to pay for their own sexual maintenance as I have done my whole life.  Axelrod said Rush "slandered all women" but he didn't slander me; I don't expect Rush to pay my way through life and I resent women who expect me to pay theirs.

I hope whoever these FB guys are buying condoms for is putting out, but who wants to fluke a doormat?

136 Jarts. You know you want to.

137 Also, I think it very important that the primaries be held off as long as possible. Probably they should be held during the summer. This would lessen the the primary season and also let the voters get a better look at the candidates.

138 138 that is just mental

139 I use the Volt as a vibrator.

140 The number one enemy of freedom lovers is utopianism. A messy process proves that the Utopianists have not made much headway.

141 Regional primaries: 5-10 states at a time with 2 weeks in between.

142 Virginia may have been a little steep, but I think you are discounting organizational ability too much.  That organizational ability (and the ability to get people who aid in it) is critical in winning the presidential election.  And its even more critical in the job as president.  I damn sure dont want someone who has a clusterfuck of a campaign anywhere near the levers of power.

143 ATC are you suggesting that the primaries be settled by jarts? By the candidates or the voters? We could do a jart caucus, and we stand in our respective circles and lob jarts at each other, most survivors wins? Then we shall fight in the shade.

144 Any suggestions? Try to keep it civil and remember who the real enemy is? Yeah i know I'm dreaming

145 Can I offer my fantasy voting suggestion that would apply to the general rather than the primaries?

I dream of a day where we're allowed to cast either for a candidate or against a candidate. Then I could just vote against Obama and be done with it. Then Mittens wouldn't get my vote, but Obama's tally would be knocked down by my vote, thus making it easier for Mittens to top him.

146 1. Regional primaries, rotating schedule. F--- Iowa and NH. 2. Delegate split between primary voters and registered Republican mailed in with a substantial check ($50), call that the "caucus" 3. If allowed by state law, close the primary 4. Base the number of convention delegates on the reliability of the states' electoral vote to go Republican. 5. Rework the debates as above

147

Add to the list...

 

A RANDOM drawing to decide WHEN States have their primaries...

 

Early States have way too much say in the process... while late States issues are ignored.

148 HeatherRadish: "I hope whoever these FB guys are buying condoms for is putting out, but who wants to fluke a doormat?"
==========

Um...

149 And can anyone explain to me the virtue of having primaries spread out over multiple months rather than on one day?

I just don't understand. If it's such a great idea, why don't we do the general that way?

150 No more debates with liberal moderators. If we're gonna hang ourselves, we can put the rope around our necks without any help, thank you

151

Meh, everybody wanted what we have right now. They wanted a chance to look at all the candidates and we have done that. Everybody running has been in the lead at some point in time until they crashed.

 

Comparing this to 2008 is ridiculous though. We could have run Ronald Reagan and probably lost. People hated Bush, both republicans and democrats. His poll numbers were in the 20's. McCain sucked, he made Bob Dole look coherent. Romney has his problems but no where near McCain. McCain couldn't even get through a speech much less an interveiw.

 

This process has hurt us but it's what everybody wanted. It's time to end it and go after the real enemy

152 Heaven actually is in Iowa. What the character meant to say is, "Actually, it's both heaven and Iowa," but it got lost somewhere in Costner's adlib. It's an undeclared county. And, yes, God lives there. Therefore, God has something to do with the placement in the election order of our caucuses.

153 Klobuchar. Ellison. Dayton. AL FLUKEFUCKER FRANKEN. Get the fucking forest out of your own eye before you start bitching about twigs in others. Being in Ellison's district, I have to say 'hear that'. Been looking into moving to TX.

154

No more debates with liberal moderators. If we're gonna hang ourselves, we can put the rope around our necks without any help, thank you

 

Posted by: nevergiveup at March 06, 2012 12:41 PM (i6RpT)

 

This.

155 I like early voting, although independents cannot vote in the primary in my state. Here, we can vote early by mail, which is very convenient for people who are too busy to visit the polls on Tuesday.

156 Re:# 135) The State with the largest percentage of Republicans Per Capita gets First-in-the-nation Primary, followed by next largest percentage, and so forth, and so on, until the least percentage of Republican Per Capita State gets the 'honor' of voting last.

157 how could those dumb white prole--i mean hard-working Americans in Iowa pick the honest, passionate religious conservative who spent most of his time here over the Bush^2 faux-rebel blowhard from the Church of Don't Mess with Texas?

Tardisal: it's not just for Texas whores anymore.

158 once it gets down to one on one the general public will strat paying more attention. Right now my sisters couldn't tell you who was running on the republican side. Most people don't really pay attention until the playoffs or  superbowl IYKWIM

159

Posted by: Meremortal at March 06, 2012 11:54 AM (Usk3+)

 

Awesome!  I wonder if Satan's toes are getting cold?

160 OT on the Fluck thing... no one in the MSM mentioned she was a planted activist except fox and then they still missed the bigger point

161 PLAYOFFS!?!?!

162 Some Random Thoughts On The GOP Primary Process.... Oh, look! A squirrel!.....

163 No more MFM debates. None. The bastards killed our side...again!

164 I agree with almost all of this, ESPECIALLY with limiting the MSM debates/Obama infomercials.

165 The last 3 Republican Presidents have been from the West/South. George H. W. Bush is a Northeasterner.

166

Posted by: Deety at March 06, 2012 12:09 PM (wO8Xd)

 

Deety!  And Mortis yesterday.  Is it homecoming week?

167 "No more MFM debates. None. The bastards killed our side...again!" Nah... the debates are good. I hope there are more than a couple in the general election. I learned a lot more about the candidates from the debates than I did from their stump speeches. I don't much care who moderates the debates; there wasn't much difference between the Fox News debates and those run by other media organs.

168

May I suggest voting for my Party's Platform?

169 George H. W. Bush is a Northeasterner.

He moved to Texas in 1948.  1948.

170 At the age of 24, btw.

171

Ditto on end the caucus.

I did my faux Breitbart and attended my local caucus. Disorganized and overcrowded. Last time I attended, there were 3 people in my precinct. This time more than 30. The Ron Paul people were pretty sleazy in pushing their people for delegates despite the fact the Romney-Santorum voters outnumbered them 60-40. Got into the face of the Paulbot who took over our precinct "voting."  and who was quickly moving to "close" the "nominations" and institute a "secret ballot." I had to ask the SOB four times how many Paul people were on our "nominees" list until the asshole answered. I succeeded in getting some proportional representation. Most of the people didn't realize what was going on which is sad. I figure these are true believers if they come to a Sat morn caucus and they were easily distriacted and rolled. Still the Paulbots got 2/3s. And I will remember them and what they tried to do. Especially you "Sid."

On the upside, I actually met some like-minded people. We will be "organizing" at some summer BBQs. I hope they like chicken.

 

172

ATC are you suggesting that the primaries be settled by jarts?

 

Yup. We hurl jarts at the candidates. Whatever candidate is left standing, wins.

 

It's way better than throwing them at each other like we have been.

173

"He didn't lose because he suspended his campaign. He lost because he never started one."

 

Exactly.  The conservative bloggers were doing his job for him and pretty much got kicked in the teeth for it.

174 O/T....

We can always count on Lisa Murscruntski (R-Democrat) when the going gets tough. (http://tinyurl.com/7uvkwqg) "Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski Regrets Vote for Blunt Amendment"

FTA: The newspaper reported about her attitude, “SheÂ’d meant to make a statement about religious freedom, she said, but voters read it as a vote against contraception coverage for women.” ...The language of the amendment was “overbroad,” she said.  “If you had it to do over again, having had the weekend that you had with women being upset about the vote, do you think you would have voted the same?” I asked. "No,” she said.

175 @182 And moved back when he became involved in national politics ever since.

176

The important question is, can we get the RNC to enact any of these reforms and how do we do it?

 

Since I'm not inclined to give much effort or money to the crappy candidates this year, I've got the extra time and money to devote to cleaning up the process. Is there an organization or group working to fix any of this stuff?

177 Mark Davis at WBAP in Dallas has an idea: four regional primaries, two weeks apart. (NE, SE, NW, SW) that way, the candidates can adjust to regions, and every part of the country gets a more or less equal say within a more condensed amount of time.

178 @136 Actually it's not. Palin did propel McCain's popularity instead of to the contrary. The liberals likes to claim that Palin sank McCain's campaign. So yes, he never really had a campaign but when Palin came into the picture, he had a fighting chance of something. He killed that momentum when he suspended the campaign.

179 "We'll get stuck with candidates who talk in stark terms about policies and principles which appeal to the majority of the Right coalition, and *everyone* knows that is a sure fire loser."
Well that's sure what we keep being told at this blog, at least.
I don't care for the idea of one primary day, but I do like the regional concept. Its good to have a season that goes on for a while, to vet candidates, get more information out, and give them time to react and show their mettle. How do they respond to animosity, to loss, to the press? Can they adapt, what about issues that come up later, crises, and stories they didn't tell about?
A one-day primary wouldn't give us time. Its like the difference between the Superbowl and the World Series. Anyone can win one game, you don't necessarily get the best team.

180 "He killed that momentum when he suspended the campaign."
I'd argue that he killed it by not responding properly when he suspended the campaign. That was a golden chance to show leadership and show the voters he was on their side. Instead he just went along with the crowd and voted for TARP. If he'd have fought it, stood tall and led the way to blocking that piece of trash, he'd have probably won.
From that point on, he was doomed.

181 My biggest fear of a Romney win, is that he'll pull a McLame and refuse to go for barry's jugular. I want to see Romney be just a vicious to SCOAMF as he's been to the other candidates.

182 I share your fear Iblis, and it would be stupid because Obama is very vulnerable. You don't attack him personally, you hit his weaknesses: his failure at the job, his embarassing stunts with world leaders, his economy that is so awful, his overspending, his failure to keep his word, and his reversal of campaign rhetoric.

183 My biggest fear of a Romney win, is that he'll pull a McLame and refuse to go for barry's jugular. Doubtful. Romney wants to be president and he's obviously not going to take any prisoners along the way. The Democrats are scared because they can't use the racist card anymore because it won't work.

184 Upon what possible planet do you get the impression that Romney is in "take no prisoners" mode or can't use the race card against him? The man is a very smooth, practiced politician, but that's simply ridiculous.

185 The Republicans and Independents are not going to fall for the race card this time around because they want Obama out of office and that card is irrelevant now. Remember the whole meme that if you didn't vote for Obama, you're a racist? Ya, not going to fly. As for the "take no prisoners", he bombarded every state across the board to win no matter what at the risk of overexposing himself.

186 Sorry Drew, if I were King for a Day, my decrees would deal more with Christina Hendricks massive tracts of land than primary rules.

Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life at March 06, 2012 01:17 PM (OWjjx)

 

Finally some intelligence

187 I looked at my television 4 times in january.  Once to catch up on Walking Dead, (season two sucks as many nuts as Fluke Fucks)  and 3 times to play fable 2 so I can give it to my brother to play.

188 Palin almost got McLame elected (despite his best efforts to lose). Maybe she can pull Romney over the finish line.

189 I get to vote today. Mitt Romney or Ron Paul.

190 Great ideas. 

But the same process that gave us McCain will give us Romney- both first choices of the beltway Republocrats.

Nothing will change as long as they get what they want and we keep losing.

191

I am also a Romney supporter but agree with all of this.  One more for consideration:

We don't need more than four or five waves of primaries over two months, tops.   We can have Iowa and NH first and then the rest in waves, however the remaining states want to schedule it.

192 Primaries need to be closed. But they won't be, establishment gop needs democrats too much to keep conservative candidates out. Same reason est. republicans want to end caucus system, at least here in this western state, once we kicked out two established congressmen who were part of the problem with more conservative, genuine republicans, the state gop establishment machine wanted the caucus system done away with. They only want to nominate rinos and go with the flow.

193 Interesting tidbit about ProFlowers, one of the sponsors to drop Limbaugh after his attack on Fluke. PF was founded by Jared Polis. Thanks partly due to advertising with Rush, he became a multi-millionaire. Now he is the openly-gay Democratic Congressman from Boulder, CO.

194 I'm all for anything that ensures political party members, and members only, are the ones choosing their candidate. Put me down as broadly in favor of the old-fashioned smoke filled room style - not that I want to return to that, exactly, but would prefer moving in that direction.

Imagine, if you will, that the debates were fewer and the questioners and moderators were restricted to GOP members (for a GOP debate), do you doubt that the likes of Christie, Palin, Rubio, et al (i.e.; those on the sidelines) would have had and made a different decision about running?

195 In my state you must be registered with a party to vote in their primary, however you can change your registration at the polling place when you go to vote and, if you choose, you can restore your original affiliation immediately after voting before you leave. As to the idea of all primaries being held on the same day: if you live in a "minor" state and think the candidates ignore you now, make this change and get ready to NEVER see them.

196 Yeah definitely the debates shouldn't be run by people hostile to the Republican party, that's just idiotic and suicidal. Perhaps in the past you could trust the press to be at least somewhat even handed and focus on issues in question but clearly now that isn't the case.

197 I agree, Ace.  The caucus process is utter nonsense and has to go.  As does the exalted status of a few random states that get to jerk around the country by always being first.

I suggest we go to random computer selection (or names drawn from 50 cards out of a hat) for which states get the first few primaries, and everyone else goes on Super Tuesday.

That we have such arcane, nontransparent, and readily corrupted processes selecting the candidates is ridiculous, a waste of time, and unfit for a Republic that espouses democratic ideals.

198 Or, to put it another way, why does Iowa get to wag the dog every 4 years?

199 The debate process must also be reformed.  No more than 3-4 candidates.  Each should have 15 minutes to present their own cases, with rebuttals and counter-rebuttals in turn.  The debates should be hosted by state party organizations, and covered by journalists.  Not run by corrupt media organizations who attempt to sway the choice of their opposing candidate to whoever they think they can most readily beat in the general election.

200 Cato's Proposed Debate Structure:
Candidates pick numbers out of a hat.  The only numbers in it are 1, 2, and 3.

Candidate 1:  Q&A + Monologue (15 minutes combined)
Candidate 2:  Rebuttal. (5 minutes)
Candidate 3:  Rebuttal  (5 minutes)
Candidate 1:  Counter-Rebuttal (5 minutes)

Candidate 2:  Q&A  + Monologue (15 minutes combined)
Candidate 1:  Rebuttal (5 minutes)
Candidate 3:  Rebuttal (5 minutes)
Candidate 2:  Counter-Rebuttal (5 minutes)

Candidate 3:  Q&A + Monologue (15 minutes combined)
Candidate 1:  Rebuttal (5 minutes)
Candidate 2:  Rebuttal (5 minutes)
Candidate 3:  Counter-Rebuttal (5 minutes)

In an hour and a half, or two hours of television, every candidate has answered questions, given a speech on their positions on the issues uninterrupted by potentially loaded questions, been rebutted by the other candidates, and had a chance to respond to the criticism.

In my opinion, this would give the voters a far more informed view of what they're actually getting for candidates.

201 I mostly like it Cato, but how do we ensure the candidates are exposed to some hostile questioning? There is some value there in that it helps prepare the eventual standard bearer for the hostility of the Fall campain.

202 Actually, Washington state has a pretty good nomination system (with one recently enacted exception.  Any voter registered for a party can go to a local caucus. Caucus members (who are the most committed and involved voters) pick 49% of the delegates and the primary winner determines the other 51%.

Thus both the people who get involved as well as the general public get represented almost equally.

The exception is that Washington recently went to a "top two" primary system. They used to have an open primary ("I want to vote for the candidate of my choice!" yell the proles, unable to distinguish between a primary and a general election), but it was challenged and the cure was worse than the disease.

Why anyone in his right mind thinks that it's wrong for only party members to vote for their nominee is completely beyond me. Must be something in the water up there.

203 "Imagine, if you will, that the debates were fewer and the questioners and moderators were restricted to GOP members (for a GOP debate), do you doubt that the likes of Christie, Palin, Rubio, et al (i.e.; those on the sidelines) would have had and made a different decision about running?"

Yes, I do doubt that. Actually, I'm pretty confident the answer is no. Whatever reason(s) Christie, Rubio, Ryan, Daniels, et al had for not running in 2012, it was not because of the nature of the debates.

Palin, maybe.

Which isn't to say the debate format shouldn't be reformed. I agree it should. But I don't think all the debates should be restricted to GOP questioners. How the candidates fare against MSM/liberal gotcha questions is IMO a very useful obstacle course, a relevant part of the vetting process-- a necessary preparation for the general election-- which doesn't necessarily favor squishes. After all, isn't this what Newt excelled at, the source of his greatest primary strength? It was having those MSM/ liberal questioners as foes, having their premises to demolish, that allowed Newt (and others, at times) to shine-- and also educated the public watching. However, I'd agree that *more* of the debates should be GOP- or conservative- centric.

But in any case, Christie, Rubio, Ryan? IMO were likely to do quite well in the debates (likely better than any of the candidates we had), whether those debates were GOP-restricted or not. It wasn't the debates that put those candidates off from running. I'll take them at their word on this. (And if it *was* the debates that scared them off, as far as I'm concerned that wouldn't make them better candidates.)

204 Have the primary vote nationwide. After the count have the top 2 or 3 candidates in a run-off election 2 or 3 weeks later. This takes some of the power away from the MSM and allows everyone a vote. And no everyone doesnt get a vote now. I'm from Texas and really never get to vote for the candidate I want.

205
174 No more MFM debates. None. The bastards killed our side...again!

No, Romney wanted it so badly, he just couldn't help go negative on Gingrich, and then the food fight started.  It's just disgusting.

Bad enough when they do it to us--we have to do it to ourselves. Who in Romney's organization thought that Republican fratricide was a good idea?

206 Text formatting widget still not working.

207 As usual.

Ballot access is no panacea.  In states like California and Florida, ballots can run multiple pages for many offices because it is easy to qualify.  The vast majority of these "candidates" never raised any money or ran any sort of campaign, being on the ballot was all the ego trip they wanted.  It's stupid and counterproductive to allow them this at the expense of the voters' time.

Ballot access in "tough" states like Virginia isn't really tough.  All the GOP candidates qualified in 2008, as did Kucinich on the Democratic side, and Keyes in 2000 - all of whom did so under tougher rules than this cycle's, because the last 4 digits of SSNs were required, which made many people more reluctant to sign petitions.

If Perry, Gingrich, Bachmann, and Santorum failed to make the ballot, it is a clear sign they were not qualified to be President.

Similarly, the demand for "closed primaries" is ignorant.  You are demanding states require party registration.  That's outrageous.  The state legislatures are perfectly capable of doing what suits their own states best, they don't need another mandate - especially one infringing on the 1st Amendment.

208

Addendum: I could add in "Don't let Iowa and New Hampshire go first" but I said this is what I'd do if I were King for a day and their place on the calendar is decreed by God Himself (or so people in Iowa and New Hampshire tell us).

 

Iowa and New Hampshire may have been mainstream Republican in some distant past when God created the primaries but they are certainly not that now.  Giving them so much influence is rather backward.  A revamp is certainly needed to bring the whole process into the modern setting.  Evolve or perish.

209

I agree with all your Points, Drew.

 

This primary season has been a nightmare. .....The only thing 'good' about it, is how it has illustrated just how absurd the whole process has become.

 

I think all of the primaries should be held on the same damn day. ....None of this 'early primary' states bullshit. ....Every state should get the chance to vote at the same time, on the same day.

210 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

211 Covered all my points nicely...

The current system is broken.  We need a national primary all on the same day, no more stupid caucuses, and no debates moderated by Liberals, and for goodness sake, I am sick to death of IA and NH wagging the dog.