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Title: Nevada GOP moves to dump caucuses in favor of 2016 primary (easier to rig)
Source:
The Washington Examiner
URL Source: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n ... le/2563576#.VTrNjXdK_IB.mailto
Published: Apr 26, 2015
Author: David M. Drucker
Post Date: 2015-04-26 21:31:12 by Hondo68
Keywords: the 2012 caucuses, a total disaster, embarrassment for the state
Views: 596
Comments: 1
LAS VEGAS — Republican leaders in Nevada are moving to junk their presidential caucuses and re-implement a standard primary election for 2016. There are two bills pending in the Republican-controlled legislature, including one in the Assembly carried by Speaker John Hambrick. If passed and signed by GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada Republicans voting in the 2016 primary would pull the lever at the polls as they do in a general election, rather than caucusing in groups similar to how the primary is conducted in Iowa. Republican insiders supportive of the legislation are expressing confidence that it will be enacted. "There are pros and cons to everything," Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald told the Washington Examiner on Friday. But McDonald said he is pushing for a normal primary because he and many other Silver State Republicans are unhappy with how the 2012 caucuses went down. "It was a total disaster the way it was handled. It was an embarrassment for the state," said McDonald, a veteran state GOP activist now in his second term as chairman. Nevada hosts the fourth nominating contest of the 2016 GOP primary and the first out west, making any change to how the contest is conducted potentially significant. Libertarian folk hero and former Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished a close third in the 2012 caucuses, a method of competing for delegates to the GOP presidential nominating convention deemed advantageous to Paul because his band of liberty activist supporters are small but intensely loyal. Paul garnered 19 percent of the tally, compared to 21 percent for second-place finisher Newt Gingrich and 50 percent for eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney. That's why the move by Nevada Republicans to go back to a standard primary could be interpreted as a shot at Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is running for president in 2016 and whose base of support here consists of the same community of activists who boosted his father to victory in the caucuses three years ago. Rand Paul, 52, is popular among Nevada Republicans and considered a strong contender for Nevada's 2016 nominating delegates at this early stage. Moving to a regular primary could deal a blow to Paul by diminishing the influence of his unique activist base in next year's primary contest, although Republicans in Nevada said they didn't see that as a necessary outcome. Paul has moved to broaden his support among Republicans in a way that his father never bothered to. McDonald and other GOP insiders emphasized that the purpose of going back to a standard primary, the system employed in prior elections, was to open the process to more voters and generate interest that can lead to more activism in the general election against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state. "Our hope is that it will drive more people out and get more Republicans involved," McDonald said.
Poster Comment: Governor Romney and the Harry Reid Republicans had a tough time cheating, being as far behind as they were. So they're streamlining the voting fraud for Jeb.
There are two bills pending in the Republican-controlled legislature. If passed and signed by GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada Republicans voting in the 2016 primary would pull the lever at the polls as they do in a general election. (AP Photo)
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#1. To: All, *The Two Parties ARE the Same* (#0)
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestNevada Republican Party Chairman Signals Support for Presidential Primary Over Caucuses in 2016
David Drucker at The Washington Examiner:Republican leaders in Nevada are moving to junk their presidential caucuses and re-implement a standard primary election for 2016.
There are two bills pending in the Republican-controlled legislature, including one in the Assembly carried by Speaker John Hambrick. If passed and signed by GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada Republicans voting in the 2016 primary would pull the lever at the polls as they do in a general election, rather than caucusing in groups similar to how the primary is conducted in Iowa. Republican insiders supportive of the legislation are expressing confidence that it will be enacted.
"There are pros and cons to everything," Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald told the Washington Examiner on Friday. But McDonald said he is pushing for a normal primary because he and many other Silver State Republicans are unhappy with how the 2012 caucuses went down.
This is interesting.
It is interesting because it represents a reversal either at the top of the Nevada Republican Party or within the Nevada Republican Party. Drucker mentions that the chairman of the Republican Party in the Silver state supports the change and obviously the speaker of the state Assembly, who sponsored the Assembly legislation cited (AB 302), supports the change. Yet, the party vice chair, Jim DeGraffenreid, is on record (on behalf of the party) in opposition to that bill at its original hearing. Yes, that written testimony was against the original version of the legislation. At the time it called for a non-compliant January presidential primary (consolidated with the primaries for state and local offices). In his spoken testimony before the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, DeGraffenreid, as FHQ described it at the time, rejected the primary idea outright, saying that the state party could and would make the decision on its own and that the taxpayer expenditure for a presidential primary was not necessary.
When the same bill was introduced in the state Senate and later heard in committee, another representative from the Nevada Republican Party -- this time James Hindle, chairman of the Storey County Republican Party and like DeGraffenreid speaking on behalf of the state party -- voiced opposition to the presidential primary idea in the bill. This time the comments were more ominous with regard to how the Nevada Republican Party viewed the idea of trading in caucuses for a primary. Hindle indicated that the Nevada Republican Party Central Committee had voted the previous weekend to hold caucuses (after having debated the two options).
Again, the Nevada Republican Party has already voted -- and quite recently -- to hold caucuses in 2016 instead of a primary. Now, that does not mean that the party cannot change its mind. Under different leadership during the 2012 cycle, the Nevada Republican Party set its caucuses date for February 18, 2012, then January 14 and then settled on February 4 after a showdown with New Hampshire.1
Nevada Republicans may pull the trigger on a switch, but that does raise a number of questions.
Nevada Republicans may "junk" their embattled caucuses, but there is a lot of nuance to this situation that may make such a switch more difficult to achieve.
Thanks to Richard Winger at Ballot Access News for bringing Drucker's story to FHQ's attention.
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1 The typical protocol for the carve-out states has been to wait every other state out, setting the dates of their primaries and caucuses later and only after other states had chosen dates. Nevada Republicans did not follow that blueprint in 2010-11.
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