The Southern Presidential Primary: Regional Intentions With National Implications

Fifteen southern and border states have decided to hold presidentialprimaries around the second Tuesday in March 1988. Democraticparty reformers have backed this regional primary in hopes thatit will advantage politically moderate candidates for the presidency.This article discusses how enactment of the southern primarycame about and why this reform seems unlikely to achieve theintentions of the reformers. Four major criticisms of the reformsare discussed: 1) Republicans, not Democrats, could benefit;2) the importance of earlier primaries and caucuses—Iowaand New Hampshire in particular—could grow dramatically;3) the desired moderating influence on Democratic candidatescould be frustrated by plurality wins; and 4) the southern regionalprimary is not southern or regional but national.