After a dismal turnout in the first-ever Western Primary, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt said the presidential nomination system needed to be overhauled, and change is on the way.

"There will be changes and there will be reforms and we'll try to make the system better," said Cliff May, spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "It may not be perfect, but we'll do the best we can."An RNC task force is working with Beyond 2000, a group from the Democratic National Committee, to find ways to revamp the front-loaded nomination system, which this year anointed the two victors before voters in 34 states had a chance to vote.

"There's a goal of being bipartisan in this case," said DNC spokesman Rick Hess.

He said Beyond 2000 has held regional meetings to gather input and is expected to make its recommendations by the end of April. The Republican committee has to have its suggestions finalized so they can be voted on at the party's convention in July.

"They're looking at many, many, many different options, certainly including the regional primary types of ideas," said Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party. "There seems to be a general consensus that (the nominating system) is broken. There doesn't seem to be a consensus on how to fix it."

An organization of state secretaries of state and lieutenant governors has also proposed a plan where four regions would hold primaries a month apart and take turns going first, said Utah Lt. Gov. Olene Walker.

Walker said there is already a push toward regional primaries, with southern states, New England states and now Western states trying to unify their nominating processes.

"Right now we've got a very front-loaded system, and while that didn't mean there is no competition . . . it does mean that primaries coming after March 7 or 8 don't have as much importance as they should have," May said.

Case in point: the Western Primary. Leavitt dreamed a nine-state Western Primary would give the West more of a political voice. But only Utah, Colorado and Wyoming participated.

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And by the time voters went to the polls, the only viable candidates left in the race were Texas Gov. George Bush and Vice President Al Gore. So just 107,332 voters drifted to the polls. The price tag: $600,000, or $5.59 per vote.

May said to keep from becoming irrelevant in the nominating system, states will keep moving their primaries up, further front-loading the process. That prevents underdog candidates from gaining momentum and challenging an established front-runner.

"I think it points out the need for some system of regional rotating primaries," Leavitt said Friday.

Regions could be broken down geographically or by time zones, May said.

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