Iowa is lovely, but very very selfish.
Florida Republicans have voted to
move up their primary to Jan. 31, which violates the rules that say that Iowa and New Hampshire have exclusive god-given rights to dominate the process.
Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn condemned Florida's action and said his caucus still will remain first, consistent with tradition. He said a date will be set after New Hampshire announces when it will hold its primary.
"The arrogance shown by Florida's elected leadership is disappointing, but not surprising," Strawn said in a statement. "Equally troubling is to see this petulant behavior rewarded with our national convention." The convention will be in Tampa, and Strawn said the penalty should include refusing to credential or seat any member of Florida's primary date selection panel.
"Arrogance"? "Petulance"? That perfectly describes the thuggish actions by Iowa and New Hampshire to stay well ahead the rest of the pack in determining the eventual party nominees. They cling to the notion of "tradition" that has zero value.
As I've written before, there are plenty of alternatives: You could have 4 or 5 regional contests on a rotating basis, so every region gets to lead every 16-20 years. You could have a lottery. You could start with a handful of small states and every week go to progressively bigger states, ending with the mega states of California, Texas and New York. You could start with the most tightly contested states of the previous election, to give the swingiest states first dibs.
There are plenty of ways to create a fair calendar that isn't based on capricious demands to be first, just because.
The ability of these two states to retain their stranglehold on the primary calendar is a testament to their political acumen. There are 48 other states jealous of their positioning. But I'm happy to cheer any attempt to chip away at that stranglehold, because someday, we will have a process that doesn't cede this important a decision to such a small number of voters unrepresentative of this great nation of ours.