Dingell-Anuzis Plan for Presidential Primaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bill Nowling
(517) 487-5413
bnowling@migop.org
Tuesday December 4, 2007
Dingell, Anuzis Propose Bi-Partisan Approach to
Future Presidential Primaries
Plan Would Give Every State a Fair Shake in Selecting Future Nominees
LANSING -- Michigan Democratic National Committeewoman Debbie Dingell and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis today proposed a bi-partisan presidential primary selection plan that would solve the problems surrounding the current method used by each party to select presidential nominees.
The Dingell-Anuzis presidential primary selection plan is patterned after the Levin-Nelson Presidential Reform Bill in Congress. The plan would eliminate “incentives” for states to violate party rules, and would treat each state fairly with respect to selecting the order of state presidential contests. Currently, both national parties establish committees that decide the earliest date each state can hold their presidential contest to determine their nominee, while allowing select states like Iowa and New Hampshire to go earlier.
“A system like this would finally bring sanity to the process,” Anuzis said. “Our proposal would create a reasonable and fair solution for each state and would end the state leap-frogging that is moving the beginning of the process obscenely early.”
Dingell continued: “We need to end the monopoly of some states that always enjoy earlier contests while protecting every state’s right to be relevant in the process.”
The Dingell-Anuzis plan would divide up states into six regions. There would be six sub-regions set up in each region, designating a representative cross section of America. The national parties would then set six distinct dates for when contests would be held. A lottery would determine the dates each designated sub-region could hold a presidential primary or caucus and no one region could be selected to go first for two consecutive presidential cycles, eliminating incentives for states to break the rules.
The Dingell-Anuzis presidential selection compromise plan will be sent to both Republican and Democratic national committees for review and consideration for the 2012 cycle, and beyond. The plan aims to create a permanent solution that would continue to allow party organizations, and not federal legislation, to dictate the nominee selection process. Attached is a copy of the proposal, complete with the proposed regional groupings of states.
See the attached link for the plans specifics.
Download dingellanuzis_modified_plan.doc
Download diingellanuzis_map_regions.pdf
Download dingellanuzis_map_6up.pdf
