Yes, the primary process is what got us a weak candidate (thanks in no small part to those who were hysterical about the prospect of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named being the RAT choice).
I think the problem would be lessened if all the primaries were held on the same day. That would keep a front runner in one state from getting all the press advertising.
The liberal MSM picked him..
Anyone who thinks Romney, Thompson, Giuliani, or Huckabee were gonna beat Obama being outspent 6 to 1 and getting 80% negative press compared to the fawning adoring coverage Obama received is crazy.
No Republican will ever win unless they can go around the media and connect to the people like Reagen and even Bush did.
And while we're at it, the RNC should push for a national voter id card, with a thumbprint. There was too much voter fraud in most recent elections.
Yes. The open primary thing needs to go away.
We let the Democrats choose our candidate. McCain lost this election when he passed McCain-Feingold. He was Bob Dole redux, except this time we had a real conservative to buck him up in Sarah Palin, instead of Jack Kemp.
Should we change the primary process?
ABSOLUTELY!
First, no state should allow anyone other than REGISTERED REPUBLICANS to vote in the REPUBLICAN PRIMARY!
Allowing Democrats and Independents to vote in the Republican primary is nothing more than dilution of our ranks.
Second, states should be formed into four groups with approximately equal populations in the same geographic area. Each group takes turns going first. This makes campaigning easier and more efficient.
We need to educate the electorate on Marxism and why it SUCKS....it is a failed, evil political ideology.
We absolutely have to restructure the primary process!
It was set up to help RINO’s.
Conservatives should vote first, & no crossovers should be allowed to choose our candidate.
Can’t help but note that the guy who ushered McCain through the primary process abandoned McCain & the party as soon as the primaries were over.
Will conservatives remember it?
Therein lies the problem.
This country is crammed full of useful idiots who think politicians like Romney are conservative.
There is an over abundance of socialistic people running for office now. It's called the Democrat Party.
Why should anyone go for Democrat lite, (the RINO Party) when they can have the full enchilada.
If anyone can go back and see what Howard Dean said about the Iowa caucus even before that presidential campaign began you will see that it’s the dem primary process that needs to be cleaned out.
The 0bama win is not necessarily due to our weak candidate. The base was energized and I am comfortable they came out to vote too.
What we need to focus on going forward is how the other party effectively found new voters and got them to the polls. You see they, the new voters, have had a positive reinforcement for their actions. Their candidate won and won big. This is no longer a one time event. We have to work over the next 2 years to win voters back, we have to educate the new voters, and we have to find new voters.
We are no longer just a minority party, but we have been effectively marginalized. And it is only going to get tougher...
We need to rethink the 19th Amendment.
When one of our lousy politicians talks about creating jobs he really means adding positions to government.
In the past twelve months over 300,000 new employees were added to government.
Incidentally, the election of this dangerous communist as president allied with his communist buddies in Congress, is truly shoving America into its last days. This government is ripe for revolution.
Iowa has become an albatross around the neck for Republicans, and the GOP should begin by tossing their current “first in the nation” caucus status in the toilet. Stop reinforcing failure.
Base caucus/primary order on statewide party electoral success in the last general election, and ensure no crossover voting. Then lean on the RINOs to leave for indy or donk pastures where they can F up the socialists’ plans instead of the conservatives’ plans.
Absolutely. McCain became the presumptive nominee of the party with just 31% of the vote. We should eliminate winner take all primaries and open primaries [if possible]. We must have a nominee of the party that enjoys the support of most of the party. Any party that nominates a self-described maverick to be its standard bearer deserves to lose.
Heck yeah
The democrats selected our candidate for us. All primaries should be only for those registered to the party. Either that, or we should all register as democrats for the next primary and give them Dennis Kuchinich as their candidate.
At least you had a candidate in the primary.
I voted absentee for Palin in the general, but I was SOL in the primary.
The party better do a better job of recruiting women and minorities if they want to win another election. Palin and Jindal are a great start. They need to build on that and leave behind the polished RINOS.
Well, I’m going to come out and say it: I don’t think we had any guys who seriously wanted to run that were both acceptable to the conservative base and had a snowball’s chance of winning.
We had a failure in having viable candidates. THAT’S something we really, really have to work on...encouraging leadership.
When Palin showed up as VP choice all of a sudden people got energized...but it wasn’t early enough. We need that type of excitement and motivation early.
And we need people with a whole lot better sense of strategy about getting the message out than McCain had.