Reply #4: Why is the Carter Baker Commission Commenting on Primaries: NH Gets Nod to

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New Hampshire is happy. They get to be the first election. The Republicans did a good job there with their illegal phone banking, etc. Even got prosecuted and convicted. A question that must be asked is, why is this commission recommending anything relating to primaries? That has nothing to do with the process of accessing the ballot booth, voting, and having those votes count in a free and fair election.

Commission backs Granite State’s first-in-nation primary

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/09202005/news/63766.htm

September 20, 2005
By Shir Haberman
[email protected]

PORTSMOUTH - A commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former White House Chief of Staff James Baker has recommended some sweeping changes to the way federal elections are conducted, but supported the role of New Hampshire as the first-in-the-nation primary state.

A report by the 21-member Commission on Federal Election Reform also confirmed that Iowa should remain as the first state in the nation to vote on presidential candidates via a caucus system, but was not as strong in making that recommendation.

"Most members of the commission accept that the first two states should remain Iowa and New Hampshire because they test the candidates by genuine ‘retail,’ door-to-door campaigning," the report released to the president on Monday stated. "A few other members of the commission would replace those states with others that are more representative of America’s diversity and would especially recommend a change from Iowa because it chooses the candidate by a public caucus rather than a secret ballot, a prerequisite of a democratic election."

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The real news associated with the commission’s report was that it recommends that, after New Hampshire and Iowa hold their contests, the remaining state primaries be lumped together into regional primaries, Splaine said.

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Source: Commission on Federal Election Reform report released Sept. 19.
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