Douglas Alexander: “today I joined Senators Klobuchar and Lieberman in introducing the Regional Presidential Primary and Caucus Act. Our…”

“today I joined Senators Klobuchar and Lieberman in introducing the Regional Presidential Primary and Caucus Act. Our legislation would establish a rotating schedule of regional presidential primaries and caucuses. We introduced this legislation because we agree that the Presidential nomination system is broken. The American dream that ``any boy or girl can grow up to be President'' has become a nightmare. Crowded schedules and government restraints on contributions close primaries to worthy competitors. States racing to schedule early contests have made the nomination process too long and expensive. As a result, media and money make decisions voters should make. The National Football League schedules 16 contests over 5 months to determine its champions. The Presidential nominating process uses the equivalent of two preseason contests in Iowa and New Hampshire to narrow the field to two or three and sometimes pick the winner. If professional football were Presidential politics, SportsCenter would pick the Super Bowl teams after two preseason games. The problem is not Iowa and New Hampshire. The problem is what comes after Iowa and New Hampshire. At least 18 States will choose delegates in a 1-day traffic jam on February 5 next year. The legislation we introduced today requires States to spread out the primaries and caucuses into a series of regional contests over four months.”