My commenters (which were once his commenters) is smarter than I: Primary reform edition

Here's a good idea:

Let's suppose the DNC could be rational about primaries (for 2112 or 16, for instance):

All the states can't have the primary on the same day - there are two hard limits that make this impossible, time (of the candidates) and money (even assuming public financing).

So, maybe the states chosen for the primary steps over time for each cycle should randomly selected by the DNC (or some special group of party fathers and mothers).

They might want to set some strict guidelines on how the primaries are conducted such that entrance into the earliest pool slots would only be available to states that have real democratic procedures.

Caucuses would not be allowed - the violation of private voting is an obvious killer. They might even demand that voting be done by mail only (as is the case in Oregon) to improve participation.

To ensure that both large and small states get a voice, perhaps 2 or 3 pools based on population or a combo of population and density should be used to select from for each chosen primary date.

Perhaps some innovation could be allowed or mandated (for all participant state parties) to do something like instant runoff voting to consolidate the results into a few viable candiates for the next round of primaries, by allowing voters second and third choice selections which are reallocated to candidates if their first choice is out of the running (think Kucinich).

Now, wouldn't that be a better system? See how easy it is to make change?

[Perhaps a federal law to give the state parties the right to make these changes would be a good idea, since states vary on who and what in each state determines the primary structure and dates - some states lock this into law by a legislature that may be controlled by the opposite party, so this isn't really fair. ]

That works for me. So, frankly, would almost any system other than the current one. Here's an idea: One marathon debate, sponsored by the DNC broadcast nationally over all TV and radio stations, and the winner of the instant wrap-up poll--conducted by, say, Markos Moulitsas--gets the nomination. I think that would constitute a 300 percent improvement over the current system.