Open Primary Question (We don't need another John McCain)

Vanity ^ | 090409 | me

[Artemis Webb]

Does anybody know if there is any effort going on to reverse the open primary system that gave us John McCain?

According to Wikipedia the following states have open primaries:

* Alabama * Arkansas * Georgia * Idaho * Indiana * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * North Dakota * South Carolina * Tennessee * Texas * Vermont * Virginia * Wisconsin

I've run a google news search and come up with blanks.

[rabscuttle385]

Personally, I don’t have an answer for you...but I can affirm that Virginia’s primaries are open. Even though I am not affiliated with any political group, unless you count the RLC, I generally vote in the Virginia Republican primary.

[yongin]

A good place to see the future regarding open vs closed primaries would be California. Currently CA primaries allow only registered GOP voters and unaffiliated voters to vote in GOP primaries. The grass root conservatives want only registered Republicans to vote in the primaries. While the CA GOP leadership wants open primaries. What happens in CA could impact nationally the debate of having open vs closed primaries.

[Artemis Webb]

Thank you for that information.

[Kevmo]

Here’s how I think primaries should be organized:

My suggestion is basically to hold the first primary in the state that has the highest percentage of GOP votes in the last election, the 2nd primary in the 2nd highest, and so on. 2 primaries a week for 25 weeks, with the last primaries being the suckup-to-the-democrats. And the democrats could easily have their primary schedule the same way, if they wanted.

This way, if a state is 60% republican, there is still incentive for them to get out the vote for 61% republican so they can bump up their state in the primary schedule.

Also: Rotate all the states (even the big ones) through an early schedule so that everyone gets access at some point to the front line.

OR

Let each state bid when they want their primary to take place. The earlier the primary, the fewer the delegates they control according to some logarithmic or steep curve formula.

18 posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:55:08 AM by Kevmo (We need to get rid of the Kennedy Wing of the Republican Party. ~Duncan Hunter)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1962610/posts?page=18#18

Second thing is the order of the primaries should be determined by the percentage of republicans in the last vote. The higher the %pubbie, the sooner the state appears on the primary schedule, with a mix of big & little states and our staunchest republican states get to go FIRST.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1965735/posts?page=862#862

[Califreak]

I just got a call from the RNC.

Normally they try to keep me on the phone for a while, asking me for money, no matter how many times I’ve said I won’t send them a penny.

I told her that they should close the primaries and then maybe I will send money. I had to explain that the open primaries are what gave us the curse of John McCain.

She hung up in a hurry. I wonder if closing the primaries is out of the question?

She was under the impression that only registered republicans can vote in republican primaries.