Wednesday, June 17, 2009

These two states have too much say

Welcome to the United States, where a few hundred thousand Iowans and New Hampshirites choose our presidential candidates.

It's undemocratic when voters in two states always vote first and get to know presidential candidates on a first-name basis while most of the rest of us can only watch the process from a thousand miles away.

Potential candidates in 2012 are already moving into Iowa. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has been there more than once, while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are also making stops.

Iowa's presidential caucuses, followed by New Hampshire's primary, establish the front-runners. No one outside of Georgia had heard of Jimmy Carter in 1976 until he won Iowa. When George W. Bush won in 2000, the Republican nomination was effectively his, and it was in Iowa that Sen. John Kerry became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2004. It was in New Hampshire that John McCain became the GOP front-runner in 2008 and where Bill Clinton became the "comeback kid" in 1992.

Iowa and New Hampshire's status in the pecking order mean they not only choose the front-runner, but they also winnow the field of candidates. By the time these two states are finished, there often remain only two or three candidates, one with so much momentum that the nomination is effectively sealed.

In response, states have moved up their own primaries in a mad dash to the front of the line.

We can't all have a private conversation with our presidential candidates, but can't we reform the system so that average Americans in other states can get face time with their future leaders?

The solution is the same one that we all learned in kindergarten: Take turns. Through a lottery system or alphabetical order, let's give a different set of four states the first pick each election cycle, and please, and let's start it in March. That would let voters in every part of the country have an actual conversation with the candidates at least once in their lifetimes.

Allowing the same states so much influence each election cycle isn't fair and isn't democratic. After all, you can't have a government of the people, by the people and for the people when some people's votes count a lot more — and a lot earlier — than others.

Noelle Nikpour, a Republican strategist and fundraiser, regularly appears on Fox News, The Strategy Room and various political talk shows. Respond to this column by writing toletters@SunSentinel.com.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Republicans must re-brand their message

The leader of the Democratic Party is a handsome, hip, and technologically savvy president who appeals to young people and to people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The leader of the Republican Party is … who?

You can't beat something with nothing, and that's the problem. Americans are concerned about their jobs, their health care, their futures, and President Barack Obama offers answers — the same big government solutions Democrats have always offered, but packaged in a way that appeals to voters.

Republicans counter with a handful of white, tired, boring senators tapping out a Morse code of despair: "Obama is bad. America is going to hell in a handbasket. Woe are we." A few bombastic radio hosts shout the conservative message to listeners who are already conservative.

Americans haven't rejected Republican values — less government, lower taxes, strong defense, and traditional values. Instead, Americans have rejected Republicans because Republicans didn't stay true to those values, because they haven't communicated them, and because they haven't applied them to today's real-world problems. 

Republicans must re-brand the party's message to appeal to young people, to people of various ethnic backgrounds, and to Americans who have seen their personal wealth evaporate in the past year. They must use today's tools and speak today's language. 

Party die-hards assure each other that, when Republicans run on conservative values, they win, and when they run as moderates, they lose. They're mostly right, but just because you don't run as a moderate doesn't mean you can't ally with them. Ronald Reagan won two terms not simply by throwing red meat to the party base but by appealing to Reagan Democrats — blue-collar, hardworking, family-oriented Americans, some of whom are now Reagan Republicans. 

There are still many Reagan Democrats out there. Many have recently reached voting age, or they speak with an accent, or they were raised by parents who do. Credible leaders must invite them inside the Republican tent. Otherwise, they'll keep buying what the Democrats are selling, and all of us will keep paying the price.