Congress gets plan for fixing primary jumble

September 6, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson today proposed legislation to create a comprehensive and nationwide process for selecting the Democrat and Republican nominees for president of the United States. 

The Florida senator’s legislation, cosponsored by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, would require six presidential primary dates, one in March, two in April, two in May and one in June.  Each contest would feature at least one state from each of six different geographic regions.  The order of states within each region would rotate every four years. 

“This would give voters in larger states a strong voice in selecting the nominees over four months, while also giving citizens in the smaller states a fair say, too,” said Nelson, who is at the forefront in seeking a fix in an ongoing primary dispute between several states and the national political parties. 

Unlike a previous Senate proposal to reform the presidential nominating process, Nelson and Levin’s bill doesn’t grant favored status to any one state such as is currently given to the caucuses in Iowa and Nevada and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The bill is similar to a plan introduced in the House by Levin’s brother, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat.  Sander Levin has been trying for a number of years to reform the presidential primary process while also breaking the dominance of the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus.

Nelson’s legislation, if passed, would go into effect for the 2012 presidential election.  Meantime, Nelson said, a short-term fix still is needed to resolve the present uncertainty created by several states moving their 2008 primaries ahead of some of the states whose early-primary status is set by national party rules. 

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature in May moved the Florida primary ahead one week.  And more recently, Michigan moved its primary ahead of Florida’s.  Other states may follow suit.

Nelson has proposed that the Democratic National Committee, under Chairman Howard Dean, allow the traditional first-in-the-nation states to move ahead of Florida.

But instead, Dean and the DNC decided the votes won't count in Florida's 2008 presidential primary.  The DNC said Florida's earlier primary – signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist - would alter the sequence of contests in Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

So last month National Democratic Party officials voted to strip Florida of its 210 delegates to the national convention, meaning the country's fourth largest state might have no say in picking a Democratic presidential nominee.  Florida still has several weeks to find a solution the DNC will accept – or, as Nelson has suggested, take legal action.

 “It's a case of fundamental rights vs. the rules of a political party,” Nelson told the Senate in a speech today.  “As to our right to vote, and have that vote count, there can be no debate.  I want to say that again.  As to our right to vote, and have that vote count, there can be no debate.” 

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