The RNC has concluded its winter meeting, and a fix for the nominating process was high on the agenda. As they have done before, committee members looked at several plans to establish a better process for selecting a presidential candidate. Congressional Quarterly has a good summary of the competing proposals here. The effort faces plenty of challenges: disagreement among various factions about what is wrong with the process (if anything); the desire by some states not to lose the influence they have in the system now; the inability of the GOP to force its solution on state governments, and the desire of the party’s nominee to avoid a fight at the 2008 convention. Despite these obstacles, the effort bears watching. Regardless of how the remainder of the primary process plays out, many already believe that the nominating process has gone off the rails. These complaints about the process may finally lead to a sustained effort to reconcile competing visions and change the way the nominee is selected. Bill Whalen offered an entertaining solution to the primary problem in THE DAILY STANDARD last February. (Yes, the campaign has been going on for that long.)
