Reince Priebus: How about a Republican convention in mid-June or July?
Priebus: We can do quite a bit. What i would personally want to do is I would set a beginning date, maybe January 1, and then I would set a new end date for the primary season, maybe the end of April, no later than mid-May. And if you have your convention in mid-June, the end of July, just doing that, Bob, is pretty unprecedented. If you can get an April 30 or mid-May end date, you have shortened the primary season and compacted it a little. Under the rule-making process of the national republican committee, there’s one power we do have. We can control the method by which delegates are awarded and how they’re divvied up by states and state legislatures. So of course we’re going to need states to cooperate. this is not going to be done without state parties being on board. But there are lots of options out there. One is, after your carve-out states are done, one option was to divide the country in quarters and do a regional rotating primary, do a different region every two to three weeks. That can be complicated, but that’s one of the options that’s out there. If by just setting an end date to the primary and just by moving the convention up, just by moving the convention, Bob, are you automatically — you’re automatically shortening the primary process itself.
Blowback
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How about closed primaries, numbnuts?
CurtZHP on March 18, 2013 at 10:56 AM
Until they do closed primaries, what’s the point of joining the GOP?
rhombus on March 18, 2013 at 10:58 AM
Finish primary season earlier.
bluegill on March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM
And randomly scheduled states.
Dongemaharu on March 18, 2013 at 11:01 AM
Stop starting with Iowa and New Hampshire. Those stupid states have gone twice in a row now for Obama and we’re letting them have such a big influence on our eventual nominee?
Also, I’m fine with an earlier convention if for no other reason than Romney was badly burned by having a bunch on campaign cash he wasn’t allowed to spend for months because he hadn’t officially been nominated yet. Meanwhile Obama was trashing him 24/7 with negative ads. That’s arguably the period where he lost the election.
Doughboy on March 18, 2013 at 11:04 AM
Closed primary, all within a week, one month at the most. Absolutely no reason to drag out a primary season. As potential candidates start campaigning as soon as the presidential election ends – at least since 2004 – individuals have three years to get their ground game going.
Closing up the primaries makes it harder to mess with – one hopes. Ending it sooner puts more attention on all the candidates and the process, it also allows more time for one or both nominees to have an adequate amount of time to do the national campaigning they need leading up to the election.
Primary in Feb. Convention in April. Gives candidates six months to campaign as the official party nominee.
Logus on March 18, 2013 at 11:07 AM
Yeah go for it I’m sure that tinkering with convention timing is all that is needed to get the Repubican party’s socialist Presidential nominees elected.
Certainly their losses can’t be based in the fact that both McRage and Willard were horrible candidates.
So yea … thumbs up to Reece’s Pieces for thinking of this!
/s
HondaV65 on March 18, 2013 at 11:07 AM
HOw about we get rid of Priebus.. Just a thought..
melle1228 on March 18, 2013 at 11:10 AM
1) June/July convention is a fantastic idea
2) closed primaries
3) no MSM moderated primary debates unless you want to spend the entire time discussing birth control
4)four or five rotating regional super primaries, with one state from each region voting a couple weeks prior to the rest of the region, so a little guy can gain some momentum
commodore on March 18, 2013 at 11:13 AM
This!
CTSherman on March 18, 2013 at 11:17 AM
- Iowa, 1st week in Jan.
- entire Midwest region, 3rd week in Jan
- NH, 1st week in Feb
- entire Northeast region, 3rd week in Feb
- SC, 1st week in March
- entire South region, 3rd week in March
- AZ, 1st week in April
- entire West region, 3rd week in April
- convention in late June/early July
commodore on March 18, 2013 at 11:20 AM
Howsabout you STOP AWARDING DELEGATES TO STATES THAT BREAK PRIMARY RULES?! Prevent a bunch of government-subsidized corn farmers from having such an outsized influence on the primary season and that’s half the battle right there.
Caiwyn on March 18, 2013 at 11:22 AM
I have been telling my husband for the last 2 presidential cycles – When did they decide the conventions should be so late?
I was at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit (wrap your brain around that). The Convention that nominated Ronald Reagan was held smack dab in the middle of JULY.
I took a gander and historically, the RNC was NEVER held before August until 1968. 1968, 1972, and 1976 were held in August. Then back to mid-July for 1980.
After 1980, the RNC went back to mainly August, the earliest being Jul 31st start in 2000 and the latest being 2008 which occurred completely in September (1-4).
Are there actually written rules that say the party in power gets to choose their dates first or is that just a nicety?
Greyledge Gal on March 18, 2013 at 11:26 AM
That…
Sounds like a great idea! I knew there was a reason I liked this Reince Priebus fellow.
This.
BigGator5 on March 18, 2013 at 11:30 AM
I will preface this by saying I was never for Ron Paul. I know by saying that no one but those that know me will believe me. :p
One of the fun parts of the conventions has always been the roll call of states. Never again should anyone who received votes, from Mickey Mouse to Jesus, be purposefully excluded from the roll call.
There is no sense in hostilely throwing away supporters by excluding any primary candidate’s name from the roll call of states.
Greyledge Gal on March 18, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Some states cannot afford TWO primaries….Ky. for example, has primaries in May, for ALL Offices, to include POTUS. Elections cost money, several million. So under some proposals, here, Ky. has to have two elections, POTUS Primary and then State Office Primaries. Not an option.
JFKY on March 18, 2013 at 11:48 AM
I lived most of my life in Maryland. Traditionally, primaries were held in September. You just get used to being irrelevant in the Presidential Primary process.
Greyledge Gal on March 18, 2013 at 12:07 PM
Several of you are advocating for a closed primary. The problem with that is participation in primaries is set by state law, not by the parties, and some states (such as mine) don’t even register voters by party. (And we like it fine that way.) We do have a system, though, that in any given year forces each voter to choose one party’s primary or the other (for every office on the ballot, not just president), and I think the effect is similar to a closed primary. In order to meddle in the other party’s election by casting a vote for one of their presidential candidates, you have to forgo your ability to vote in your own party’s primary for any office that year.
acasilaco on March 18, 2013 at 12:15 PM
How about instead of letting each state select their own primary election day we reward success as in growth of their electorate. Take the 1960 electoral vote, the first with 50 state and the date of April 15th as a start point. If you have gained electoral votes, you move up one week per vote. If you lost electoral votes you move down one week per vote. Stayed the same then your election is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April.
meci on March 18, 2013 at 12:23 PM