Thread by @jedshug

Iowa was last week's surprise disaster.
What problems are coming next?

The open primary, just like the caucus, was once a valuable democratic institution.
But in an era of social media coordination and manipulation, MAGA leaders & bots can create "open" chaos.
Solutions?
1/

2/ Journalists: report flagrant or subtle Republican coordination to send their voters into open primaries to vote for the perceived weaker candidate or to draw out a long primary.

Rush Limbaugh used his platform to tell GOP voters to prolong the 2008 race.

3/ Call out bad faith pundits for this conduct.
@hughhewitt openly engaged in this bad faith manipulation by announcing his vote for @SenSanders on @chucktodd, while also saying he'd vote Trump over Sanders.
Todd did not call him out. @NBCNews/@MSNBC should have condemned Hewitt.

@hughhewitt @SenSanders @chucktodd @NBCNews @MSNBC 4/ I believe it is too late to close primaries, and it should be.
Such changes would raise questions about whether the move was designed to help or hurt a current candidate. The Democrats should have seen this coming in 2017 and made changes then.
We need more vigilance now.

@hughhewitt @SenSanders @chucktodd @NBCNews @MSNBC 5/ The DNC may have adopted the best solution already:
Superdelegates.
They can't vote in the 1st round at the Convention, but if no one has a majority, they vote in next rounds.

Given the likelihood of GOP manipulation, we should appreciate that the DNC kept superdelegates.

@hughhewitt @SenSanders @chucktodd @NBCNews @MSNBC 6/ From @businessinsider, a map of open and closed.
Pay attention to all the yellow (open) and green (modified open, often meaning open to independents).