The Democratic Primaries

The democrats have added Nevada and South Carolina to their presidential primary states. That will give three presidential primaries in January, 2008 and another in early February, and these four primaries are likely to determine the Democratic presidential nominee.

But January is too early in the political process to select a candidate. Back in the days of smoke-filled rooms and political bosses, candidates were not chosen, or at least confirmed, until the conventions. The Democrats would be better off to set May first or even June first as the earliest allowable primary. By that time the serious candidates would probably all be known and have their positions at least sketched out.

But a four-state primary schedule is better than a two-state schedule. It’s major advantage is that it will bring more people into the primary process, especially Hispanics in Nevada and blacks in South Carolina. One result of the four-state schedule is likely to be a major reworking of the election process. With the results of four primaries available, the country will have a better feel for the appeal of each candidate to a somewhat larger and more representative Democratic base. If all four states choose a different candidate, this will likely decrease the importance of the primaries and move the real electioneering to later in the political process. This should be good for the Democrats. If the Republicans follow suit, it will be good for them too, and for the country as a whole.

A Primary Election for 2008

In a July 21, 2006 op-ed piece in Newsday, Joshua Spivak, an attorney and media consultant, made the point that the presidential primary elections are rigged against the Democrats. Iowa and New Hampshire, the two established early primaries, are to be joined by Nevada and South Carolina. These are all small states, and the voters of small states tend to favor Republicans more than Democrats.

But the big states, such as New York and California, tend to be Democratic states. By dealing the big states out of the primary process, the great bulk of Democratic voters are being ignored. In other words, the Democratic candidate the small states are likely to select is probably not the same candidate that the Large states would select. The reasoning behind picking small states is that it would be too difficult to hold a primary in a large state; the candidates would not have enough money to finance a primary race in a large state.

But the Internet might provide a better way to select a Democratic candidate. Let MoveOn, for example, run a nationwide Democratic primary. If such a project is to be fair and effective, it will be necessary to make sure that only Democrats vote in the Democratic primary. One way to do tis would be to have every voter submit a notarized affidavit that he or she voted for John Kerry in the 2004 election or that he/she intends to vote for the Democratic candidate in the 2008 election.

Computers can be used to track the voters and make sure people don’t vote twice. Volunteers could probably handle the data entry problem once the system has been set up.

Did you know that Ken Rove said, in 2004, before the election: “The good news is that Dean is not the nominee.” Quoted by Bob Woodward in his book, “Plan of Attack”.