Why on earth can't registered supporters/members of a party simply have a vote, one vote on the same day, with the winner being the Pres candidate for that party.
What a circus this is.
I would agree with that sentiment entirely. A full-scale national primary may be a bit unwieldy, and grossly favor big states, but something needs to be done. I like the concept of rotating regional primaries (e.g. a New England primary, deep South primary, Potamic/Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West, Mountain, Pacific). Have them a week apart over the course of 6 or so weeks, get it done with, and push the opening primaries back until late March or April. Conventions in the summer, November general election.
New Hampshire and Iowa would bitch but, honestly, who cares? Their "right" to first in the nation status is only self-proclaimed, and the parties have been too pussy-footed to challenge it.
From the perspective of an American living abroad, the Australians think we are absolutely crazy to have an election cycle that lasts this long to, in essence, just pick the party leader. Remember that this is only the regular season to the general election's Super Bowl. You think there's hype now? Wait will we know who both nominees are and then go through months of them bashing each other over the head.
By contrast, the Aussie election cycle is 6 weeks, over and done ... and even THAT seems like an eternity.
