‘Front-loading’ Frustration Spurs GOP Talk of a Fix

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‘Front-loading’ Frustration Spurs GOP Talk of a Fix
By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff


The winter meeting held by Republican National Committee (RNC) and concluded this weekend did not even seek to compete for attention with the presidential nominating events on Saturday in Nevada and South Carolina. But they did, in a low-profile manner, revive a debate over whether and how to fix a presidential nominating process that many participants and observers view as broken.

The GOP officials meeting in Washington, D.C., did not miss the fact that the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary were already the fifth and sixth Republican voting events in the 2008 campaign — by Jan. 19 — with their multicandidate field hurtling toward a historic traffic jam of 21 Republican nominating events scheduled for Feb. 5.

With concerns about the uncontrolled “front-loading” of the presidential nominating schedule on the rise, at least among the political class, the RNC’s Rules Committee held preliminary discussions Thursday about proposals for overhauling the system that its members will be considering over the next few months.

“It’s pretty obvious now that no person can win the nomination of our party unless he or she is both financially and organizationally prepared to conduct a campaign in half of the country simultaneously. That is not good,” said Republican National Committeeman Morton Blackwell of Virginia.

Although there are complaints about the process in both major parties, there is a greater sense of urgency among Republicans to get a plan on the table than there is among Democrats. Changes to the Democratic National Committee rules, including those governing the nominating schedule for 2012, can be made at any time. But under Republican Party rules, any changes that would be put into effect for the 2012 presidential campaign must be ratified at its quadrennial national convention this September in the Minnesota capital of St. Paul.

So the RNC rule-making panel would like to approve a consensus plan at its next meeting — in the New Mexico capital of Santa Fe in early April — that is can submit it to the full RNC for its consideration this summer, right before the national convention meets.

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