The main page thread about replacing NH and IA as the kick-off states got me thinking, and I did some research.
The National Assoc. of Secretaries of State has a rotaing regional primaries plan that I posted a link to, and the feedback was that the regions were too large. I agree, and came up with this:
The NASS plan keeps NH and IA first out of respect for tradition, and (I believe) because it just isn't worth the political firestorm of trying to replace them.
The NASS plan divvies the country up into 4 regions, and has the first regional primary in March, rotating through at one per month, through June. I agree with the assessment that this is too few regions, and like the fact that more regions means more frequent primaries.
In my version I divvie up the country into 8 regions of 5-7 states each. They are:
A:New England: Maine, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
B:Mid Atlantic: Pennsylvania, New Joisey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and DC
C:South: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida
D:South Central: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana
E:SouthWest: New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada
F:West Coast: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii
G:North Plains: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota
H: Midwest: Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky
This system would still begin with IA and NH, but would then be followed by the regions, one every two weeks, rotating through in order.
The next election cycle the region that led off last time moves to the end, and so on, ensuring that all regions have the chance to go first in the cycle at some point.
I also tried to make sure that the regions were roughly equivalent in delegate size (with the exception of the Southwest and North Plains). I noted on the map the total delegate value for each region in the Democratic primaries. Obviously the Republican values are different, but should map out roughly equivalent in proportion.