The selection of Dr Sarah Wollaston as PPC for Totnes by members of the public has certainly caught the headlines, but it is not such a new idea. Certainly the scale of the venture and the cost (estimated at around £40,000) put it apart from any other primary selection process conducted in the UK. The principle, however, of allowing the public to select parliamentary candidates is not that orginal. Many constituency Conservative Associations have used some level of public involvment to select their candidate. In nearby Oxford West & Abingdon, Nicola Blackwood, was herself selected using an America style primary process. In this case, as in Totnes, everyone on the electoral register was entitled to attend a hustings meeting and vote for their preferred candidate (from a shortlist chosen by Party members). The only difference is that in Oxford West & Abingdon the public had to register in advance and physically attend the meeting, whereas in Totnes the vote was conducted by postal ballot.The numbers show that the postal option is clearly more popular, but is it any better. When you see how few people attend hustings organised by churches and other local groups at a General Election to hear the candidates, it is not surprising that even less people are willing to give up their time to listen to Conservative candidates setting out their stall. Yet perhaps if this process were to become more common, interested local people would see it as part of the normal election process.David Miliband raises the prosepect of 'registered supporters' in today's left-wing tribune magazine. Perhaps such a system would open up the process further. I find all of these developments interesting, but I am also sure that they will cause more problems for political parties than the impact it has on public interest in the political process. This is no magic bullet.