On February 23, the Idaho Senate passed HB 391, which abolishes the presidential primary, starting immediately. Assuming the bill is signed, the 2012 presidential primary set for May 15 will not be held. The two major parties had been using caucuses in Idaho anyway.
The Idaho Senate vote was a tie, so the Lieutenant Governor, who was presiding over the Senate, broke the tie and voted for the bill. See this story.
The Caucus system is another step away from public participation in the process. Caucusus have no provision for absentee voting, the disabled can’t reasonably participate, and they often are longwinded and tedious processes. At a time when we are expanding the ways for people to vote in the general election, depriving Idahoans of the right to influence the nomination process even a little is destructive to our system. Voting for Presidential party nominations should be a right, and its not something to be causually disgarded.
But it’s the members who vote for their nominee and the caucus system is designed so that Tom Dick and Harry can’t also vote in somebody else’s primary at taxpayer expense. People can still join a political party and vote in the caucus. You are right the the process is a bit tedious and expensive for the parties. In 2008 the Montana Republicans had a caucus and they found out they didn’t want to spend their money on another round in 2012, so they gladly will be sticking the taxpayers for their bill. The leadership to often makes rules designed to help get their choosen nominee elected. Ron Paul supporters had a hard time getting their delegates to vote since the leadership was making the process difficult.