A better way to nominate a president

We can assume there are bigger things ahead for Connecticut in the coming presidential campaign than Sarah Palin stopping for gas at a Sunoco station in Berlin on the way to somewhere else.The great self-promoter was ostensibly touring historic places in a bus with her name on the side in marquee-size letters but not running for president. Her Northeast itinerary took her from the Gettysburg battlefield to the New Hampshire battlefield, with the Sunoco station her only stop in Connecticut. But these days, Connecticut must take its presidential candidates, real or imagined, where it can find them. 2012 will not be a banner year for presidential politics in Connecticut. With Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman passing from the scene, no Connecticut politician will be the subject of presidential or vice presidential speculation, for which the state and nation may give thanks, given their successes. Palin’s pit stop will be followed by more conventional appearances by real Republican presidential candidates, but probably not many. Connecticut won’t have its primaries until the end of April and things could be settled for Republicans by that late date. As for the Democrats, President Obama isn’t expected to be challenged, which means his appearance at the Coast Guard Academy in May could be his last in Connecticut for a while.And what about the general election campaign? In 2008, 99 percent of the presidential campaign visits by candidates Obama and McCain were to just 17 states and Connecticut was not one of them. However, both candidates were kind enough to accept contributions from Connecticut residents, with Obama raising $9.7 million in the state and McCain, $3.9 million. Obama obligingly spent $700,000 of it here while McCain spent nothing, a wise decision, as it turned out. The sad truth is Republicans pretty much concede the state to Democrats in presidential elections and Democrats pretty much take the state’s electorate for granted. And so, except for occasional drop-ins for those fundraisers — closed events — in Greenwich and environs, neither party’s candidates see a compelling need to visit us.The national Democratic and Republican Parties have been valiantly trying to restrict primaries to the year in which the president is to be elected but some states can’t resist trying to push New Hampshire out of its first-in-the-nation position. New Hampshire achieved this lofty status years ago by simply passing a law mandating that New Hampshire goes first. In past elections, the primary season began with New Hampshire in March, but in 2008, Florida and other states forced New Hampshire to move its primary to January. That year, 24 states, including Connecticut, held their primaries on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, and Republican McCain had the nomination clinched by March. Hillary Clinton managed to stay alive until June, making nearly all the Democratic primaries somewhat important but this sort of thing is extremely rare. The national Democratic and Republican Parties were actually embarrassed by these too early primaries, which give the greatest advantage to the wealthiest candidates and it looks as if this year will be better. Only the Iowa Caucus and primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada will be held in February, with the rest spread out over the next four months. Connecticut had originally intended to move its February primary to next March 6 but that’s the date of the Mastery Tests in the public schools. Since voters wandering the halls wouldn’t be conducive to quality test taking, the date was changed to April 24, the same day as neighboring New York, Rhode Island and sort of neighboring Pennsylvania. Is there a better way to nominate a president? How about the regional primary plan recommended a while back by a commission headed by Jimmy Carter and James Baker and endorsed by the nation’s secretaries of state?The states would be divided into four regions, logically situated in the East, South, Midwest and West with a lottery determining the order they’d hold primaries in the first presidential year. After that, the first would move to fourth and the others would move up each election cycle. The regional primaries would be held in March, April, May and June. It makes too much sense to ever happen. Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. Email him at dahles@hotmail.com.