EDITORIAL: The Iowa disaster

Day, The (New London, CT)

Feb. 7--This is no way to select the presidential nominee of a major political party.

Even if things went well, how did it make any sense for the Democratic Party to help arrange its pecking order of presidential candidates by beginning the process in a state, Iowa, that in no way resembles the demographics of the party, using an archaic process, caucuses, to do the sorting?

Critical to the success of the Democratic Party in the general election will be to energize its racially and ethnically diverse base and get young voters to the polls. So, the party starts that process in a state skewed toward older, white voters? A tiny state in population. A state that Donald Trump won handily in 2016.

This is the state the party uses to winnow its field? The state in which to pour millions of campaign dollars and resources?

The Iowa caucuses are weighted toward partisans, those who live and breathe politics. Folks who are motivated to come out on a cold February Monday and publicly declare their political loyalties. Bless them for caring so much. But they, and that process, do not necessarily select candidates who will be appealing to the great swath of average voters who do their civic duty in casting a secret ballot on Election Day.

Of course, things did not go well. Caucus night Feb. 3 came and went without results. Fingers were pointed. An untested app received blame. It took five days for full results to be reported. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed victory because he had 1.5 more state delegate equivalents, which is gobbledygook to most people. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed victory because he got more votes.

Former President Joe Biden, who has been considered by many the likely party nominee, was embarrassed with a fourth-place finish.

The week ended with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez calling for Iowa's Democrats to go through all the numbers again -- a recanvass.

If there is a silver lining for Democrats, it may be that this debacle finally forces the party to dump Iowa as the kick-off state and end caucuses generally. The entire nominating process needs revamping -- for Republicans too -- perhaps with a rotating series of regional primaries.

Maybe invent a process that makes Connecticut relevant. It votes April 28, nearly two months after the 14-state Super Tuesday primary may have decided things. Or maybe not.

The Day editorial board meets regularly with political, business and community leaders and convenes weekly to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Tim Dwyer, Editorial Page Editor Paul Choiniere, Managing Editor Tim Cotter, Staff Writer Julia Bergman and retired deputy managing editor Lisa McGinley. However, only the publisher and editorial page editor are responsible for developing the editorial opinions. The board operates independently from the Day newsroom.

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