TIME TO CONSIDER MAKING CALI A CAUCUS STATE?
There is an adage that says, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."
Los Angeles Times writer George Skelton has been consistently producing his column on Golden State politics for a long, long time. To be honest, most of the time, while I think Skelton brings up pertinent topics, I rarely agree with his ideas or his conclusions. Actually, if I did, it would probably really worry George, since he hardly sees himself as a darling of conservatives. That having been said, today in his column, George Skelton floats an idea that has a lot of merit and is worth a healthy discussion. Skelton throws out the idea that perhaps California should consider becoming a caucus state in terms of Presidential elections. What does this mean? It means that instead of voters going to the polls in the primary, instead voters of each political party would be invited to attend an actual meeting in their area where interested members of each party would show up and vote for delegates to their party’s national convention, pledged to certain candidates. Of course a system like this has its tradeoffs — the downside is that it makes it harder for voters as a whole to play a role in who is the nominee for their party. The upside is that it really increases the impact that those who are passionate and who care about political parties will have on the selection of a nominee. In addition, it would drastically change the way that Presidential candidates campaign in the Golden State. It would mean a move away from investing all funds into television commercials and a new investment into local grassroots structures that are geared towards a measurable outcome — getting people to a meeting! Of course such a proposal would be a radical shift from where we are now, and would involve a lot of vetting. But I encourage all California political parties, including my own, the Republican Party, to establish working groups to look at this type of proposal. The best part about a change like this is that it will infuse interest in the Presidential primary here in California, where we currently serve only as a place for candidates to suck up cash to spend elsewhere!
**There is more – click the link**
