Primary system needs to change

by: Steven Kurlander

As Republicans begin to recognize the damage being done by the primary process, Romney finally is collecting some "important" endorsements from major GOP figures that probably should have come back at the beginning of the process- last week, the latest ones, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and former President George H.W. Bush, sent a message to the other candidates that Romney is the only one that can beat President Obama and the focus of the race needs to turn now against him now.

A number of primaries are also coming up in Northern states dominated by moderate voters such as New York and Connecticut where Romney is expected to really outperform the other candidates. On Tuesday, Republican voters in Wisconsin are expected to give Mitt Romney an easy victory in the GOP primary race there and Santorum may lose his home state Pennsylvania the following week.  There was even news of a "secret" meeting between Romney and Newt Gingrich, which could be have been the start of a needed reconciliation to allow Romney to focus on the race against Obama.

Looking at 2016, large states like Florida, California, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and New York, which have a diverse array of Republican voters, should be encouraged-not penalized-to move their contests up to early in the primary season where each Tuesday becomes a Super Tuesday and the primary process ends by March or April.  An interesting alternative would be to have a primary vote in one contest in May where candidates compete in all 50 states and territories so the whole process ends in one shot.

If there is one big lesson to be learned from the 2012 GOP  primary race, it is that the process is too front loaded with primaries in smaller states starting with Iowa and New Hampshire which allows candidates on the political periphery such as Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and yes, Ron Paul, to collect a few thousand votes and gain unjustified and unrealistic strength and traction in the process to the detriment of stronger, more attractive candidates who can realistically win the general Presidential election against a Democratic candidate in November.