Democrats prepare to boot Iowa from “first in the nation” status

[darklordoftech]

Initially, Strom Thurmond didn’t want South Carolina to have a primary or caucus because he wanted its delegates to vote how he told them to at GOP conventions. Lee Atwater convinced Thurmond that a primary would give SC more influence over who wins the GOP nomination because winning a primary gives a candidate media attention and creates a perception that they could win, which tends to be a self-fufilling prophecy.

[darklordoftech]

It's the right decision but I doubt that Republican trifectas in Iowa and New Hampshire will just sit idly and relinquish their coveted position in the primary calendar. It will be up to the DNC then to discourage the candidates from campaigning in these states.

For New Hampshire yeah, but aren't the caucuses run by the party?

Correct. The Democratic and Republican Caucuses can simply be held on separate days in IA. This already routinely happens for NV.

For NH, the DNC can simply strip it of its delegates and then it just becomes a non-binding beauty contest. They can hold a caucus or something at some later date, or just not allow NH to vote at the DNC at all.

They always restore those delegates at the convention though.

Nope. When they took away some delegates from disobedient states in 2008 they held firm and those votes were not cast. In 2016/20, all states eventually complied with DNC demands.

Nahh they were restored at the convention in 2008, I remember it. There had been months of contentious of debate about whether the Florida and Michigan primaries should mean anything, particularly Michigan where Obama wasn't on the ballot, and then they just counted them anyway in the end.

Okay, looked at it again, and you're technically correct, but it was only restored after Obama himself personally signed off on doing so. If the Nomination was still contested at that point, they in all likelihood would have been counted at half-weight as previously ruled by the DNC: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Democratic_National_Convention#Seating_of_delegates_from_Florida_and_Michigan

Half-Weight isn't total invalidation but it's a pretty steep punishment.

In 1996, Alaska and Lousiana had their caucuses before Iowa and the RNC stripped them of their delegates in retaliation.

[darklordoftech]

Blacks, esp. older ones are socially conservative because the Republicans have obviously abandoned them and socially conservative blacks have no reason to vote Republican.

And why are they any less valuable as Democrats than I am as a Republican?

Because they prevent the Democratic Party from moving left and progressive and thus act as a block on what should be much needed change.

[younger blacks are often very progressive tho, but they're a strong minority]. America is ruled by the old given your president could be your grandpa.

Seems very anti-demcoratic

Changing a primary agenda to fit better with voter groups you traditionally are strong with isn't democratic. It's what a dictator would do to give the impression an election is democratic because he would be guaranteed to win anyways.

I would do the same thing if i were a dictator. It's textbook dictatorial tactics.

Primaries aren’t provided for in the Constitution and the parties can structure them however they like.

As long as the parties don’t have literacy tests for voting in primaries or something like that.