[EM] Senators Want Nomination Changes
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
DEMOREP1 at aol.com
Wed Oct 27 22:54:28 PDT 1999
Only one slight problem- any such plan blatantly violates the 1st and 10th
Amendments. The obvious remedy - the direct nonpartisan nomination and
election of the U.S. President/Vice President by ALL of the voters in the
U.S. (via a constitutional amendment repealing the ultra-dangerous 12th
Amendment).
-------
Senators Want Nomination Changes
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two senators from different political parties and opposite
ends of the nation introduced legislation Tuesday that would require
presidential nominees to be picked by region in 2004, rather than the current
selection process led by New Hampshire and Iowa.
The sponsors, Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.,
acknowledged, however, that the four senators from those first-in-the nation
states would filibuster their bill to death.
``I understand the local interest'' among New Hampshire and Iowa lawmakers in
killing the bill, Lieberman told reporters. ``But overall, this system is not
serving the country well.''
The bill is the latest shot in a fight over the nomination schedule, which
next year is set so that roughly 75 percent of the delegates will be picked
by March 7. Both parties are almost certain to have a nominee within six
weeks of Iowa's opening test. Critics say the system gives the first states
too much influence over the process, and puts undue pressure on candidates to
race around the country.
The system, Gorton said, has become ``an absurd rush to judgment'' that does
not resemble the vision the nation's founders had of considered nominee
selection.
``Small and large states with later primaries are shut out of the selection
process,'' Gorton said.
The bill is identical to the one he and Lieberman introduced in 1996, but the
Senate never acted on it. Its prospects this year are just as bleak, they
conceded.
Gorton and Lieberman propose that the first Tuesdays in March, April, May and
June be primary election dates for specific regions of the country - similar
to having a ``Super Tuesday'' for each area, the sponsors said. The four
regions would consist of 12 or 13 states, divided into West, Midwest, South
and Northeast. The national parties would assign territories, such as Guam
and Puerto Rico, to one of the four regions.
Each state would determine how its delegates would be picked, selecting
either a winner-takes-all method of representation at the national
convention, or a proportional plan. Each state also would decide whether to
hold caucuses or primaries.
AP-NY-10-26-99 1925EDT
More information about the Election-Methods
mailing list