Criticism and Support
Critics of the American Plan point out that its random selection system could lead to high travel costs for candidates (as opposed to regional plans) due to random selection of primary states. John Nichols mentioned in The Nation that these costs are minimal compared to the costs of running full TV, radio, print and online media campaigns in several states simultaneously, as would happen under a the large regional plans. However, such advertising buys would also be necessary under the American Plan in later rounds.
The plan is supported by:
- California Democratic Party
- California Young Democrats
- Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz
- FairVote
- OPS-Alaska
- Young Democrats of America
Additionally, the American Plan was the only systematic reform cited in the December 2005 Report of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling to Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean:
"In considering the options for 2012 the Commission encourages the Party to think boldly, including for example, consideration of the proposal known as the American Plan which would spread the calendar of contests across ten intervals of time and randomly select the order of the states from one presidential election cycle to the next."
Read more about this topic: Graduated Random Presidential Primary System
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