RNC approves rule changes to condense primary process

 The Republican National Committee Friday approved several rules changes that will condense the 2016 presidential nominating calendar.Committee Chairman Reince Priebus proposed condensing the primaries so that the GOP's 2016 convention can take place from June 27 to July 18, instead of the week of Aug. 27, when it took place in 2012, Politico reported.Official dates for the convention will be announced this spring, and the location will be decided at a summer meeting.Among the changes made were stiffer penalties for states that schedule primaries before March 1, a requirement that states award delegates proportionally, instead of on a winner-take-all basis, before March 15, and that states must select delegates 45 days before the national convention, as opposed to the current 35 days, CNN reported."This is an historic day for our party," Priebus said after the committee approved the changes. "We have been saying for months that we were no longer going to sit around and allow ourselves to slice and dice for six months, participate in a circus of debates, that we were going to take hold once again of our responsibility at the Republican National Committee because we are the custodians of the nomination process and today I believe was historical and obviously very important to the future of our party and our country."