Presidential Primaries rock!
Television
pundits and Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, are apparently
concerned about the close primary race between Senators Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama to become the Democratic Party nominee for president. I agree with
Governor Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate, that competition is
good and voters want a choice.
I would add
that it is obviously increasing the number of primary election voters and thus
energizing the parties, particularly the Democrats. For once, it was gratifying
to vote in a presidential primary where my vote actually made a difference.
The concern of some
Democratic Party leaders is that if there is not a clear winner by the convention,
there will only be 60 days of campaign time for the nominee. The Democratic
National Convention is in early September, unusually late. Assuming Senator
John McCain will be the Republican Party nominee, we could say his campaign for
the general election could be seriously hampered by not knowing who his
opponent will be. That could actually be plus for the Democrats. Both Senators
Clinton and Obama can continue to take pot-shots at McCain while his staff is
trying to gather dirt and write speeches attacking two very different opponents
at the same time.
Many of us
older folks remember the political party conventions where decisions were made
for president and vice-president. I can remember my parents hovering around the
radio in the 1940s and 50s, listening intently to the series of votes of the
whole convention of 48 states, sometimes lasting for days. The drama was
wonderful. The secretary of the convention would yell, ÒAlabama!Ó and a
delegate would drawl, ÒAlabama casts 95 votes for that great statesman from the
South, Strom Thurman, (or whomever).Ó
The roll call would be off and running and no one knew the outcome. It
certainly was a lot more fun. Can you imagine the wheeling and dealing on the
convention floor during those votes?
The purpose
of establishing primary elections was to take the power of nominations away
from the political parties and give that power to the people. In some measure,
counteracting the voters are the appointments of Òsuper delegatesÓ to the
Democratic Party convention - the party big-wigs and elected officials who
could be the deciding voters in this primary election.
Knowing
this possibility, both Clinton and Obama supporters are relentlessly contacting
the uncommitted super delegates to the convention. Well, it all makes the whole
process more interesting and as long as it is generating twice as many primary
election voters, as Martha Stewart would say, it is a good thing.
Caroline Porter is a
freelance writer from Galesburg who can be reached at caroline.porter@insighbb.com.
2/14/08