"Not enough states, and not enough people, have an effective voice in (the primaries') outcome," said Bill Brock, chairman of a Republican National Committee panel studying the issue.

"And equally, the compression of time limits our ability to evaluate prospective candidates as carefully as we might," he said Thursday during the RNC's twice-a-year meeting.

A preliminary report released by the panel listed several alternatives to the current system. As it stands now, the Democratic Party allows only Iowa and New Hampshire to hold caucuses or primaries before March 7 without penalty. The Republican National Committee does not set such limits.

For the 2000 election, California moved its primary from June to March 7, and about a dozen other states followed, all of them seeking attention from the White House candidates. Rather than stretching into the spring, the nominations are expected to be sealed up by early March.

The RNC intends to issue a final report before its summer meeting and its national convention so it can change the GOP's rules, if necessary, then.

Among the options considered in the report are:

--Rotating regional system: States would be grouped by region. Each group would take turns holding primaries first, though Iowa and New Hampshire would retain their earliest-in-the-nation status.

• Population-based system: States would be split into five groups based on size. The 10 smallest states would hold their primaries first, and the 10 biggest last. In a variation on this concept, the party would pare down the number of candidates with each election, until two remained for the last group.

• Pre-primary convention: Party leaders would select candidates eligible to run at a gathering before any primaries or caucuses. States would be barred from holding such votes for at least one month, then would conduct them as they do now.

• One-day primary: Arrange for all states to select their delegates on the same day.

• Caucuses and conventions: Require all states to hold caucuses and conventions instead of primaries.

• Incentives: Increase the rewards to states that hold primaries later.

Tom Sansonetti, a member of the panel, said the front-runners appear to be rotating regional primaries, a population-based solution, or "some twist on the present status quo."

The Democratic National Committee is also examining the primary process.