How can primaries be made to work?

[BrotherCadfael]

@That_Don_Guy

Too many people think that (a) the smoke-filled room still exists, and (b) it is why Bernie Sanders is not currently President.

Wasn’t “maintaining the smoke-filled room” pretty much the sole reason Superdelegates existed (and will return if the pledged delegates can’t come up with a majority decision)?

But the SuperDelegates were at the end of the process. You need the smoke-filled room at the start of the process, to ensure a pool of qualified and acceptable candidates. Yes, that might have excluded Bernie, but having Bernie as the candidate would pretty much hand the election to the other party.