2016 Postmortem

The order was as follows:

IA
NH
NV
SC
AL, American Samoa, AR, CO, GA, MA, MN, OK, TN, TX, VA, VT
KS, LA, NE
ME
MI, MS
FL, IL, MO, NC, OH
AZ, ID, UT
AK, HI, WA

That was the order through the end of March.

Secondly, we're talking about Democratic primaries. One shouldn't conflate the Democratic electorate of South Carolina or Georgia with the overall electorate in those states. And, as others have pointed out, black folks represent a substantial portion of the national Democratic electorate.

Third, as I pointed out during the primary, most Deep South states are *less* red than a hell of a lot of other states. In the primary, for what it's worth, it was actually Sanders who did best in the reddest states.

Fourth, I think the most important thing is doing away with caucuses.

All that said, I'm all for a completely different way of conducting the primary. The idea I've proposed previously is to have 12-13 states (representing every region) vote every 4-6 weeks. So, a group of 12-13 would vote in early February, another 12-13 would vote in mid-March, and so on. Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the like would be fit in there somewhere.

Perhaps the first grouping could be a little lighter in terms of delegates, so that a candidate who isn't as well-known or as well-funded won't be out of the running right off the bat. But all candidates would have plenty of time to campaign and debate leading up to that first vote in February.

For example, the following states could make up one group: MA, PA, NC, FL, KY IL, TX, SD, AZ, NV, WY and OR. Every region of the US is represented.

An alternative would be to have each group consist of states from more or less the same region so as to make traveling much easier/more economical. Every contested primary, the order would rotate. So, one group might consist of the following: WA, OR, CA, AZ, NM, NV, UT, ID, MT, WY, CO and TX. If that group went first in 2020, it would go last in 2028 the next time there's a contested primary (I'm making the assumption that a Dem will win the general election in 2020 and be unopposed in the 2024 primary).