Should Nevada replace Iowa for first caucus rights?

[RenoCon]

A couple of the guests participating in "The Editors, a National Review Podcast: Was It Great or Was It Terrible?", (February 5, 2020) suggested that, in light of the caucus debacle in Iowa, Nevada should take their place as the first in the nation caucus. The argument is that Nevada is much more diverse, and perhaps they would not screw it up as badly.

I don't think the Editors are terribly familiar with Nevada politics.

This is the state of Retired Senator Harry Reid (btw, thanks for giving us the nuclear option on Supreme Court Judges) whose organization was accused of busing illegal immigrant casino employees to vote during his 2010 reelection bid, as well as other shenanigans. HuffPost reported in 2016 "...the process of choosing the Democratic delegates to represent Nevada at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July is one of the most complicated in the country and, as a result, conflict broke out between supporters of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over the delegate count." 505 - HTTP Version Not Supported Most recently, Elizabeth Warren fired 6 employees on her Nevada staff over racism accusations.

The problems are not limited to Democrats. "In 2008, grass-roots conservatives supporting Ron Paul captured the reins; they overran the state Republican convention, shouting down party officials and forcing the convention chairman to delay selection of national delegates. In 2012, there were more complications: It took state officials three days to release a final tally on votes. At the state convention, Paul backers revolted again, refusing to vote for Mitt Romney, even though he had handily won the caucus." Nevada caucus calamity worries GOP - POLITICO

Frankly, I don't know why Nevada would want to deal with this headache. Should Iowa be punished for their Democratic Caucus disaster? What should the penalty be?

(Hmm...HuffPost "505..." URL above appears to work for me)

 

[Helix]

No. There should be a national primary day so that every vote counts.

 

[haymarket]

The caucus system is fatally flawed and should be done away with in favor of primary elections.

 

[jnug]

Any state that wants to continue to caucus needs to take a step back. Iowa really does not even sound like it wants to be first in the nation anything any longer as it realizes the scrutiny of first in the nation is something they could not stand up to and it is something they appear to no longer want. As I have said before though, the DNC played a major roll in this mess regardless of how much the DNC is trying to blame the mobile app with the coding error and the Iowa Dem Party.

I am OK with NH as first in the nation as a primary as it used to be. It is a small state were retail press the flesh politics is the rule. A candidate can gain some momentum there without spending a scadzillion dollars. The next state after NH should also be a primary state but it should be a much more diverse state than NH. After that if they want to slide a caucus to 3rd, maybe Nevada that is fine by me.

But in truth these caucuses are more trouble than they are worth, OBVIOUSLY. As many states should have primaries as possible with as few caucuses as possible. For one thing, since Primaries are elections the State Election Commissions are involved in the process. Caucuses are totally run by the state parties which has its obvious shortcomings.

 

[Mr Person]

No. There should be a national primary day so that every vote counts.

This, right here.

 

[Mycroft]

A couple of the guests participating in "The Editors, a National Review Podcast: Was It Great or Was It Terrible?", (February 5, 2020) suggested that, in light of the caucus debacle in Iowa, Nevada should take their place as the first in the nation caucus. The argument is that Nevada is much more diverse, and perhaps they would not screw it up as badly.

I don't think the Editors are terribly familiar with Nevada politics.

This is the state of Retired Senator Harry Reid (btw, thanks for giving us the nuclear option on Supreme Court Judges) whose organization was accused of busing illegal immigrant casino employees to vote during his 2010 reelection bid, as well as other shenanigans. HuffPost reported in 2016 "...the process of choosing the Democratic delegates to represent Nevada at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this July is one of the most complicated in the country and, as a result, conflict broke out between supporters of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over the delegate count." 505 - HTTP Version Not Supported Most recently, Elizabeth Warren fired 6 employees on her Nevada staff over racism accusations.

The problems are not limited to Democrats. "In 2008, grass-roots conservatives supporting Ron Paul captured the reins; they overran the state Republican convention, shouting down party officials and forcing the convention chairman to delay selection of national delegates. In 2012, there were more complications: It took state officials three days to release a final tally on votes. At the state convention, Paul backers revolted again, refusing to vote for Mitt Romney, even though he had handily won the caucus." Nevada caucus calamity worries GOP - POLITICO

Frankly, I don't know why Nevada would want to deal with this headache. Should Iowa be punished for their Democratic Caucus disaster? What should the penalty be?

(Hmm...HuffPost "505..." URL above appears to work for me)

It doesn't matter which state is the first. It doesn't matter whether the first state uses the caucus or primary systems.

If either party wants to manipulate their party members, they'll do it. This year, it was the Dems who needed to create a scenario. Next election, it might be the Reps. And this will happen as long as the party rank and file keep letting their Party Elites run things.