Regional Primaries

If this is what comes out of the absurd rush to move practically every state's primary up to Feb. 5, then I'm all for it:

The scramble among states to move up their presidential primaries next year has renewed calls from a number of the nation’s chief election officers to end the helter-skelter and move to a slower nominating process, such as by staging four regional primaries.

The National Association of Secretaries of State has dusted off its proposal to divide states into regions – the East, South, Midwest and West – and hold four primaries, each a month apart, between March and June. All states in a region would schedule their primaries on the same day. The order of the contests would rotate every presidential election year.

New Hampshire and Iowa would retain their positions as the first two states to choose a presidential nominee.

The only thing I don't like about that is New Hampshire and Iowa keeping their spots, but you'd practically have to get them to secede before they'd relinquish that.

It's good to see some solidarity among the other states for this kind of plan. They're resisting the urge for self-interest and honestly attempting to improve democracy.

What we're going to see in 2008 will be absolute chaos. Maybe everybody will step back from the abyss by 2012.

UPDATE: Good for Debra:

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen (D) said she has mixed feelings about moves by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and Democratic legislative leaders to advance her state's primary to Feb. 5 from early June. The state’s media markets are so expensive that candidates might bypass the Golden State anyway, she said.

On the other hand, she said California voters are frustrated that the only role they now play in the presidential nomination process is that of “cash registers.”

Let's see if she has the juice to move this idea forward.