Mitt Romney supporters believe that the current presidential-nomination process weakened Romney’s general election bid.
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It’s not a presidential election year, but we’re halfway there. And after six long years out of the White House, the Republican Party is bound and determined to make 2016 a successful election year for its candidate. The past two elections have been bitter disappointments for the GOP, which as a party has experienced an alarming amount of division in recent years.
But Reince Priebus, the current RNC Chairman, recently spoke with Hugh Hewitt about one thing most Republicans can agree on and want to see change in: the presidential-nomination process.
Priebus—who is making himself known as an RNC Chairman that’s leaving behind a legacy such as those left by former chairmen like Kenneth Mehlman, Haley Barbour, and Ed Gillespie—says the GOP is looking at making some big changes for the 2016 election.
In response to Hewitt’s question on whether the RNC would put the axe to the Iowa Caucuses, Priebus had this to say: “I think we’ve got a six month slice and dice festival that’s destroying our party. And so the first thing I want to do is shrink that six months down to 60-70 days… I’m serious about this, about our party taking control of these debates, taking control of the moderators, the debate partners.”
By making the process more compressed and unified, Priebus says each candidate—no matter how well known—will be able to make their case. And the party, instead of fighting itself for six months, can get to the convention sooner and move forward.
The current selection process was actually originally designed by New Left reformers, and many say it falls short when it comes to keeping conservative goals and values in mind. In short, most Republicans believe it’s simply not suited to the party.
“There is no reason for this state of affairs to continue,” write Jeffrey Anderson and Jay Cost in an article for National Affairs. “Instead of preserving a primary process designed for its political rival, the Republican Party should draw on its own principles to create a better method of choosing presidential nominees. By crafting a new nomination process modeled after the process that ratified the Constitution, Republicans could provide themselves with a more dignified, more representative, and more effective means of selecting a candidate.”
If the GOP does push forward a major overhaul of the presidential-nomination process, will it help them present a stronger and more united front in the 2016 elections? Only time will tell.
