serve somewhat will as the first caucus and first primary is that they are geographically small, with relatively small populations, so the candidates who choose to go there can speak directly to a lot of the voters.
I can't begin to imagine how you could make all polling illegal. We have this silly First Amendment to our Constitution that would probably need to be repealed for that to happen.
I took a brief look at the Equal Time Rule, and learned that my understanding of it isn't correct. It seems as if it is still in effect, but I'm aware that for all practical purposes it hasn't existed for some years now.
It's my personal opinion that the real problem is that our campaigns go on far too long. Basically, Hillary started running immediately after Obama was sworn in his second time. Fifty years ago, candidates announced in January, or later, of the election year. Of course, back then Iowa and New Hampshire did their thing in March. And most states didn't have primaries or caucuses, and there was a lot of the proverbial smoke-filled back rooms where the wheeling and dealing took place for the candidates to acquire enough delegates to get the nomination.
I'm honestly not so sure that a single national primary day is such a good idea. It would simply be a dress rehearsal for the general election. Or, worse yet, depending on just how delegates were assigned, it might lead to real brokered conventions. Which despite how many people seem to long for one, would be a real nightmare.
It's not that I think we have the best possible system, but it's not entirely clear to me how we can actually change it for the better. Parliamentary systems have such short election seasons simply because they don't have a fixed cycle for the elections, as we do, which is the core of our problem.
Oh, and if Trump really does crash and burn, as at the moment he appears to be doing, then with any luck at all the lesson future potential candidates will take away is not to be an asshole. Can't trust that anyone will, alas.
= new reply since forum marked as read
