A Revolution in How Democrats Pick a President

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

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Summary

For the past 50 years, the race to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee has been shaped by the where the contest begins: Iowa. But that process could soon be overhauled. In a coming meeting of the Democratic National Committee, South Carolina — a state that is more representative of the party and, possibly, of the country — could take over the key role of going first. Guest: Adam Nagourney, a West Coast cultural affairs correspondent for The New York Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Borrow. This is a daily.
0:07.0	For the past 50 years, how the Democratic Party picks its presidential nominee has been
0:17.3	profoundly shaped by the state where the process begins. Iowa. Today. Why in the coming days,
0:27.2	Democrats are poised to abandon that tradition. My colleague, Adam Nagarney, explains.
0:41.5	It's Thursday, February 2.
0:50.7	Adam, tell us about this meeting that's about to get underway in Philadelphia.
0:55.5	The Democratic National Committee, which is essentially the governing body of the Democratic
1:01.4	Party, is about to gather in Philadelphia for its annual meeting. These meetings tend
1:07.4	to be boring, if I may say so. There are something really contentious, and I would argue,
1:14.6	historically important on the agenda this time. That is that the Democratic National Committee
1:20.5	is going to debate and vote on a proposal put forward by President Biden to do a pretty
1:26.8	major overhaul of the presidential nominating calendar for 2024. While that might make
1:34.4	your eyes glaze over, it's pretty meaningful and important. Because what it means is
1:39.9	that Iowa, which has been the first state in this process since 1972, is about to get
1:45.5	knocked out of that spot.
1:47.0	There's nothing more constant in American politics than Iowa going first. It's just what
1:53.1	you do. For someone like me who's been covering this up for a long time, it's really kind
1:58.3	of striking. It's a real moment of transition, and it reflects the reality, which has become
2:03.4	more and more true over the years, that Iowa just does not represent the Democratic Party
2:09.7	anymore. It just doesn't make sense anymore for the Democratic Party to start the whole
2:14.1	nominating process. It's going to end up choosing a candidate for president in a place
2:17.7	like Iowa.
	...

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