The Problems with Our Political Process

Michael Barone argues in his column that one of the problems with our political process is the way in which we pick our President:

The single most glaring defect in our mostly admirable political system is the presidential selection process. You can point to other defects -- the equal representation of the states in the Senate, judicial usurpation of decision-making on sensitive issues -- but the downside risks are greater in the selection of the one official who is far more powerful than any other. So what's wrong with it?

It starts too early, takes too long and ends too abruptly. Thirteen months from today -- and 10 months before the general election -- we will probably know the nominees of both parties. Some candidates have been busy running most of last year, and now they're busy announcing their exploratory committees. So anyone who doesn't want to devote two or three years to nonstop fund raising and campaigning is ruled out. That would have eliminated past candidates like Dwight Eisenhower.

Then the races for the nominations tend to end abruptly. Iowa caucus-goers and New Hampshire primary voters -- fewer than 350,000 people in a nation of 300,000,000 -- effectively chose the Democratic nominee last time, a choice many Democrats now regret. In 2000, 573,000 South Carolina primary voters effectively chose George W. Bush over John McCain.

I agree, although I would say the single most glaring defect is probably gerrymandering of Congressional districts. Read the whole thing.