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- Isn't the system we use

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to nominate Presidential
candidates broken?

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It's safe to say that the 2020 Iowa Caucus

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was the very definition of a hot mess.

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It was certainly the most
contentious Iowa Caucus

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since the 2016 Iowa Caucus.

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Every Primary Election cycle,

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we revisit the same
conversations about reform.

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Should Caucuses be scrapped?

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Should Primaries be reordered?

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Should Primaries even exist?

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(bright music)

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What's so special about
Iowa and New Hampshire,

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that they always get to go first?

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Bare in mind, these
largely white, rural states

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are simply not representative

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of the Democratic party or of America.

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So what?

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Well, these voters have
outsized power in the process.

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They determine which candidates
deserve a closer look.

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They say sayonara to losers
and they narrow the field.

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Votes casted by Iowans
and New Hampshirites

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may have five times more
impact than all others.

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Why is this bizarre system in place?

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Well, it wasn't always.

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At the turn of the 20th Century,

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states started implementing
State Primaries

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to gage the opinions of voters,

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but they were largely symbolic

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because party leaders
still have the final say.

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Then came chaos at the
1968 Democratic convention

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when Hubert Humphrey
secured the nomination

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without a single Primary vote.

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After he lost to Nixon,
Democratic voters were indignant,

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and so the party reluctantly yielded

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some elective power to the people.

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They instated binding Primaries
and Caucuses nationwide,

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and the Republicans soon followed suit.

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Iowa's Caucus process was so
much more complex than others

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that they'd need more
time to process the vote,

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so they moved it to January.

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Ever since, Iowa has had
first in the nation privilege.

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It's written in their state laws

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that Iowa and New
Hampshire must come first.

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The DNC protects their positions.

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If the DNC can do that,

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surely it can command
more significant changes?

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Illinois is often touted
as an ideal starter

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with it's diversity
and urban rural divide,

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but it's a big state,

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and that means it's harder for campaigns

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to reach voters organically.

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That's pretty much the same argument

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against a National Primary.

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It's virtually impossible
to make Grassroots inroads

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across 50 states.

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It's difficult enough
campaigning for Super Tuesday,

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the closest thing we
have to National Primary.

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It would likely favor big personalities

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and rich candidates with budgets for ads

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and stadium-sized rallies.

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Other plans include
rotating the small states

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and letting all the small states go first,

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but small states tend to be less diverse,

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and so, we're back to square one.

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What about increasing turnout

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to get a fuller, more accurate sample

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of the will of the people?

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Mandatory voting is, well, mandatory

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in other democracies
like Australian, Belgium.

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While this would increase
voter turnout to the maximum,

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you may have uninformed or
indifferent voters participating.

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A better route may be to
make Election Day's holidays

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to allow those who are
restricted or pressured by work

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to freely cast their
ballots like everyone else.

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What about rank choice voting?

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Which would ensure winners

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have the approval of the majority.

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Maine will be using it
for the general election,

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so we know it can be done.

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The main issue is that all these scenarios

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would need a buy-in for lots of players,

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not only the two national
parties would make the rules,

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but also the states,
which implement the rules.

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- Primaries are voted on

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and funded by the state legislatures,

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so in trying to shape them
into some rational shape,

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you have to deal with
50 state legislatures.

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- That's Elaine Kamarck.

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She's a member of the DNC rules committee.

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She says Democratic party insiders

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are not so concerned with
the changes we've discussed.

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They're increasingly
favoring Primary reform

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that's much more sweeping

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and controversial

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and which is slowly gaining
steam inside the machine.

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- Ultimately, we do want the
voters to make the choice,

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but we also want the input from the people

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who govern with a President
of the United States.

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- The proposal is this.

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Party leaders, governors
and other stakeholders

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would vet candidates before they ran

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and issue them a vote of
confidence or no confidence

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before voters head to the Primary polls.

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It would serve as a reality check

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to make Primaries serious again.

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- We have come in the 21st Century

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into an era of celebrities
getting into Primaries,

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either people who are celebrities

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or people who want to be celebrities.

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In 2012, in the Republican side,

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we saw a pizza entrepreneur.

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- Running for President,

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we also had a reality television
star, he had a simple idea,

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make Mexico pay for a wall
on the southern border.

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This time, we have people
like Marianne Williamson,

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a spiritual guru.

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You have a nice young
man named Andrew Yang

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who puts out this idea

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that he's gonna give
everybody $1000 a month.

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Neither of those two people

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belonged on a Presidential stage.

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- Don't let the Yang gang hear that.

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Those candidates would
probably still be able to run,

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but they'd have red
flags against their names

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for voters to consider.

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It's a kin to peer reviews
in other industries.

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- If you're gonna have
a surgery on your brain,

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you want not a neurosurgeon
whose the most popular

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and who says the cutest things,

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you want a neurosurgeon, who
other neurosurgeons have said,

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oh yeah, this guy is qualified
to crack your skull open.

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- Even more critical,

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it would gate keep against
dangerous Demagogues.

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In 1924, Henry Ford of Ford Motors

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started campaigning for President.

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He ran his mouth a lot.

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He said unsavory things,
many of them antisemitic,

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and had links to the KKK.

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He was incredibly popular with the public,

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but because the Primaries

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had such little binding power then,

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he knew he had no path
forward and bowed out.

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If any of that sounds at all familiar,

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scholars have compared Ford's core ideas

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to making America Great Again.

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Many Americans may find party
intervention deeply troubling.

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Would Barack Obama, a relative upstart,

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have gotten the blessing of party leaders

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and would he have found
his footing without it?

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Would party insiders
have given Bernie Sanders

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the stamp of approval this cycle?

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Wouldn't the status quo always win out?

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So, maybe it's the very
essence of American Democracy

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for contenders to duke
it out state by state

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while hoping for somewhat as to reform

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at least to increase voter turnout.

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Most would agree that that
starts with ditching Caucuses,

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and that's already underway.

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With 10 Caucus states from 2016 switching

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to Primaries this time around.

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But, until then, maybe
this uncomfortable metaphor

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for the Primaries from the
DNC Chair actually, kind of,

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should give us some faith
in the process we have.

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- We've got a remarkably
defense of candidates,

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and I encourage you to
continue to get to know them,

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kick the tires, speed date,

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date multiple people at the same time,

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fall in love, fall in
love with multiple people,

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but in the end of the day,
we will have one nominee.

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- We'll leave you to
digest that awkward image

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until we see you next time.