Democrats to review nominating process

[Ron Burgundy]

Democratic Party leaders want to regain control of the primary calendar and reduce the number of superdelegates through a new commission announced Wednesday.

They also want to review the caucus system, which presumed nominee Barack Obama used so successfully this year. The commission would work over the next year and make recommendations by January 2010.

All the issues are potentially troublesome, with few easy solutions.

Officials said the commission would be formed at the party convention in Denver. The convention's rules committee will take up the matter at a meeting Saturday, two days before the convention starts.

"As we look to the future, we must continue to strengthen the process and ensure a fair process in which the diverse voices in our party and our nation have a chance to be heard," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. "That is the essential role that the Democratic Change Commission can and will play, and we look forward to their recommendations."

The Democrats' primary calendar was disrupted this year when Florida and Michigan violated party rules by holding primaries before Feb. 5. A goal of the new commission would be to establish a calendar in which only a handful of states would be allowed to hold nominating contests before March.

Michigan and Florida were initially stripped of all their delegates for violating the rules. The delegates were reinstated in May, but given only half votes. Since Obama has wrapped up the nomination, he has asked that they receive full voting rights. The convention's credentials committee is expected to take up the issue Sunday.