Two suggestions:
First, the Democrats and Republicans should agree to have one primary each week, alternating, in ascending order of population. The general election would follow suit, and therefore we'd have one critical election every Tuesday for three out of four years of a given Presidential term!
Okay, that was a joke. Seriously, though I think it's about time the Democrats looked over their schedule a bit and tried to come up with something a little more sensible. I'm going to throw out the obvious political difficulties in making wholesale changes to a schedule that has become totally entrenched and just go with an idea.
Generally, I'd like to see a series of small-state primaries spread out to give a regional view, before consolidating into a couple big days that really thin the field and can declare an early winner.
1st: New Hampshire. I think there's a benefit in having this one first. It's a bit of a quirky state, and can really benefit an outsider. Dean, Bradley, and McCain all planned to make key stands here, and it just couldn't quite work as well somewhere else.
2nd: South Carolina, New Mexico, and Iowa - broader regional appeals will work out here. Midwest, West/Southwest, and South are diverse Democratic regions, while the Northeast already got its share.
3rd: New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin: Bigger states, and the real Democratic heartland. Jersey proxies for Pennsylvania and New York, Washington for California, and Wisconsin for Illinois and the Old Northwest. Nothing too massive yet, so less well funded candidates can compete, but you've gotta be better than a regional flavor to win out in these three, and you have to have a pretty well set up campaign to get people on the ground.
4th: Week off - token primary, maybe in Hawaii or DC.
5th: Arizona, Ohio, and Missouri: More big states, and this time with a greater push to swing voters instead of party rank and file. This is where people can really make a case for their electability with wins, combining a broad appeal and a solid base infrastructure.
6th: California, New York, and Illinois - D-day for the party, the interview is over, now it's time to start making some serious decisions. It almost doubles the number of electoral votes out there (by extension delegates?) and gives the heart of the Democratic party its big shot at deciding the nominee.
7th: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Michigan the Dakotas, Oregon, Nevada, and Colorado - more regional appeals, allowing for a strong candidate to really finish the damn thing and weaker regional candidacies to get overpowered by national ones. More votes at stake than in round 6, so it holds off the big three from being a deathblow.
Here elections slow down a bit to let fundraising recover for the final push
8th: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska
9th: Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware
10th: Vermont, Rhode Island, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma
11th: Mississippi, Alabama, and Indiana
12th: Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Maryland. Its Southern twinge offset by Pennsylvania and Maryland, this is the final contest of hte Democratic primary. A substantial number of delegates are here to be won, and this will have the gravitas to really close out a primary. Big states and swing states decide this one.
It's a draft, but thoughts?