Can the "American Plan" Fix Our Broken Presidential Primaries?Paul Hogarthbyline‚ Feb. 13‚ 2007After I wrote an op-ed against moving California’s next Presidential Primary to early February, a local radio show invited me to debate Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign – who is pushing the state legislature to make it happen. One thing that we agreed on in yesterday’s program is that the system of presidential primaries is broken and works against the interest of progressives. But while I believe that pushing up California’s primary will only compress the schedule without giving us more influence, how do we create a system that doesn’t make the establishment candidate always win? As long as each state gets to decide when they hold their primary, the system will always be broken. Every state wants to have an early primary, so we will never stop the front-loaded schedule that favors wealthy candidates -- until the national parties step in and demand a fair compromise. One proposal – called the American Plan -- could help end front-loading, give under-dog candidates a prayer, ensure a diversity of voices and be fair to both large and small states. The California Democratic Party has endorsed it, as have the Young Democrats of America, the Center on Voting and Democracy, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. But while the Plan has been floated around for over a decade, nobody wants to try it until 2012 at the earliest. |