Candidates are whisked across the country without any real ability
to distinguish regional issues from national issues. Consequently, party
platforms are determined by a make-it-up-as-you-go approach.
If the primary
process were organized on a regional basis, candidates would be able to
study the regional issues, campaign to confirm those issues and then receive
votes based on the solutions they propose.
A regional approach would also
prevent a premature selection of a front runner because success in one
region certainly would not guarantee success in the next region. This would
also further validate the process because each state would still have a say
all the way down to the end.
Finally, the number of delegates awarded in
each state should be determined by the percentage of votes won by each
candidate.
Accordingly, the political primaries should occur between January and June
of each presidential election year. Each of the six regions would be
assigned a particular month. A lottery held in June of the previous year
would determine which month each region holds its primaries.
An example illustrates the format:
January
Middle West (9):
Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio,
Wisconsin
February
Southern (8):
Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia,
West Virginia
March
Atlantic (8):
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey,
North Carolina, South Carolina,
April
New England (8):
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Vermont,
May
Northwestern (9):
Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Washington, Wyoming
June
Southwestern (9):
Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas,
Utah
