Graduated Random Presidential Primary System

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The Graduated Random Presidential Primary System (also known as the California Plan or American Plan) was created by aerospace engineer and political scientist Thomas Gangale in 2003, evolving from his earlier 1997 version. It is designed to begin with presidential primaries in small-population states, where candidates do not need tens of millions of dollars in order to compete, and grow progressively larger and more challenging as the nominating process advances. A wide field of presidential hopefuls will be competitive in the early going. A "minor candidate's" surprise successes in the early rounds, based more on the merit of the message than on massive amounts of money, will tend to attract money from larger numbers of small contributors for the campaign to spend in later rounds of primaries. Thus there should be more longevity of candidacy, and more credible challengers to the "front-runners." However, as the campaign proceeds, the aggregate value of contested states becomes successively larger, requiring the expenditure of larger amounts of money in order to campaign effectively. A gradual weeding-out process occurs, as less-successful candidates drop out of the race. The goal is for the process to produce a clear winner in the end, but only after all voices have had a chance to be heard.

The schedule consists of 10 multi-state primaries evenly spaced over twenty weeks. The first primary would take place in mid-February in a randomly selected group of states whose Congressional Districts total exactly 8 -- for example, Alaska (1 CD), South Carolina (6 CDs), and Delaware (1 CD). This is approximately equal to the total number of congressional districts in Iowa (5) and New Hampshire (2), thus preserving the door-to-door "retail politicking." Any state or combination of states amounting to a total of eight congressional districts could be in the first round of primaries and caucuses, including areas that have large proportions of people of color. The succeeding primaries would grow progressively larger - 16, 24, 36, etc. - up to the 10th primary in late June, which would cover 80 CDs.

The District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which also send delegates to both national conventions, are each counted as one district in this system.

To accommodate populous states, the plan shuffles some of the larger primaries into earlier rounds. California, for example, would now be eligible to vote as early as the 4th primary (wherein states comprising a total of 56 Congressional Districts would be represented.) This reordering of later rounds results in the following sequence: 8, 16, 24, 56, 32, 64, 40, 72, 48, 80. With this adjustment, the four most populous states are all eligible to vote by the fourth of ten rounds. Since only eleven percent of the American electorate votes in the first three intervals, these large states can figure early enough in the delegate selection process to have as meaningful an input as any state. The American Plan treats all states even-handedly; on average, the smallest states are scheduled at random to vote after 32.5% of the country has voted, but for the largest states this figure is no higher than 45.5%, a spread of only 13 points.

In short, the plan allows many candidates to enter the race, yet forces those candidates to compete on a higher level as the race progresses.

In December 2005, the report of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling stated: "In considering the options for 2012 the Commission encourages the Party to think boldly, including for example, RBC [Rules and Bylaws Committee] consideration of the proposal known as the American Plan which would spread the calendar of contests across ten intervals of time and randomly select the order of the states from one presidential election cycle to the next." On January 28, 2006, the California Democratic Party adopted a resolution calling on Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean "to empanel a new commission, and require it to hold a series of regional hearings/meetings throughout the country and to hear testimony on all substantive, systematic reform proposals, including the American Plan, for implementation in 2012...."

1 Options
2 Types of primaries
3 List of primaries
4 See also

[edit] Options

CONUS Option

The CONUS Option would restrict Round 1 to the contiguous United States, including the District of Columbia. This would reduce campaign travel expenses early in the nomination process.

New Hampshire Option

The New Hampshire Option would reserve the Granite State's "first in the nation" status. The New Hampshire primary would be held one week before the other districts (comprising the total of 8) in Round 1. Per the 2000 census allocating 2 districts to New Hampshire, the second week of Round 1 would involve the remaining 6 districts.

One-Time No Replacement

The One-Time No Replacement option ensures that no state would be selected for the same interval in two consecutive quadrennial cycles. This can be thought of as an insurance policy against two consecutive bad outcomes. Whatever the first throw of the dice is, your state is stuck with it; that’s your deductible. But if the second throw is the same, you’re indemnified; you get to roll again. This option also decreases the chance of two good throws in a row, reducing the possibility that a state would have a disproportional influence on two consecutive nomination races. Overall, it levels the cumulative outcomes for all states in a shorter period of time

Swing States Option

The Swing States Option would reserve one half of the districts in each of Rounds 1 through 3 to "swing" states, where the general election is expected to be competitive. This option would give an advantage to the candidate who appeals to broadest spectrum of the electorate, better ensuring the party's victory in the general election.