Something has to be done. Is the answer a national primary day? Maybe, maybe not. But I think a law needs to be established that no state can have their primary before a certain date.

If:
IA wants to keep their status as “First in the nation” and
NH wants to keep their status as “First primary” and
SC wants to keep their status as “First in the South” then
Provisions can be made in the law that establishes allowances made for these “traditions.” Make it a law that states that have had their primaries first for x number of years can continue to be first, and the rest can’t have theirs until after x date. Then let the rest fall out where it will.

But voting just to select a candidate 11 months out (and not even in the year of the election) is just insane.

As to Fred? Well, since he’s so damn lazy and has been toying with us, maybe this is the wakeup call he needs to realize he’s far too lazy to deal with any of this, and he should just tell us he’s giving up. Things are just moving too fast for his wee golf cart to keep up, and his Gucci shoes might get dirty. On the plus side, now he can funnel PAC money to his son even sooner than expected.

Does this decision by the DNC affect us on the right? No. Is it entertaining to some of us? Yes, especially since it pretty much supports several points of contention that we normally have against the left (both in this state and in general).

One thing that must be observed by all is regardless of undue negative influence, i.e.: a vastly left-biased media, is that the Presidency is up for grabs whether we like it or not. Standing still while the opposition builds up steam and the collective consciousness of those who are more reactionary than logical is just as bad if not worse.

Should government step in? Heck no! Government has no business dictating party doctrine and discipline.

Will this have an impact on existing democrats in this, the fourth largest state of the union which for all intents and purposes is almost divided down the line politically? Somewhat. While those who are hard-core followers of liberalism will fall on their knees and repent to the almighty party, those who are moderate will start reflecting on whether or not it’s smart to belong to a party which drives itself to the ground by reacting to campaigning gimmicks and poorly thought logic. Now is not the time to kick those moderates to the curb; after all, how many of us at one time thought that sitting on the fence and sensing where the wind blows was the right thing to do? There’s a time for moderates to grow up, and this very will might be that event.

Anyhow, just sit back and enjoy their in-house drama and remember: what divides them can only make us stronger.

The Democratic National Committee sought to seize control of its unraveling nominating process yesterday, rejecting pleas from state party leaders and cracking down on Florida for scheduling a Jan. 29 presidential primary. The DNC’s rules and byl…

So, since the concept of selecting delegates and having a parties nominees select a party’s candidate is extra-constitutional in the first place, and is causing a major disruption in America’s electoral system as well, I’ve had a few thoughts on how to control this.

Given the 2 year perpetual campaign for President now on going, and that the party so-called “leaders” (morons, IMHO) in Iowa, SC, FL, and NH, etc., all trying to be THE FIRST primary election, why should the rest of the country be diverted by this sideshow and all those goofball debates, straw polls, and primary elections, etc., nearly 11 months in advance of the real election?

Why do these party hacks care who’s first? Idunno. Why is it important to be first? Idunno. I think it’s more ego stroking for the people of a small, unimportant state, who wishes to regain some past faded glory of maybe being the state to get lucky and “select” the future President by virtue of their primary/caucus/strawpoll, blah, blah, blah. But it has a major deleterious effect upon the political system by virtue of the unwarranted attention it draws.

And, since it is SO far in advance of the election, it deprives the Nation of having other choices in response to events closer to the election, and it results in not allowing these (”extra-constitutional”) parties to have the flexibility to respond to national emergencies by selecting the best person for the job of President that represents their point of view, not some joker who got lucky in New Hampshire or Iowa, but who otherwise couldn’t find FEMA or the Pentagon with a map and wouldn’t be a serious candidate otherwise.

11 months is a VERY long time to preselect a party’s candidate. Especially grotesque given the fact that the Constitution requires the President to be elected by ELECTORS, and not the general public.

Do you realize, that with all but one Democratic candidate being a Senator or House member, that the people of the states who have a Senator in the campaign ARE NOT BEING REPRESENTED IN THE SENATE because these powermad assclowns are too busy going to “gay” debates, “youtube” debates, AFLCIO, “KOS” debates, strawpoll debates, and on and on and on. On the Republican side, only 1 candidate is a Senator, but still….

So, be it resolved that no Primary election can be held prior to July 1, 2008. All previous primary dates are null and void. Should any state hold a primary election before July 1, that state shall be considered to be in rebellion against the United States Constitution, and the Armed Forces of the United States shall invade and dissolve the current state government, placing all party officials and elected officials (who established these illegal dates) in the soon to be available security facility at Gitmo for a period of 10 years.

I think only the threat of jail will put an end to the madness of selecting a party’s candidate 11 months or more before the election.

If the Constitution doesn’t mention primary elections or political parties, much less “nominating delegates,” in selecting a President, why should the rest of the country put up with this nonsense coming from these unimportant states?

I mean, really. This entire primary season is ridiculous!

[Flame away, FL, IA, NH, SC, etc., posters.... ;^) ]

Nomination conventions shouldn’t involve the government anyway.

Make all candidates write ins and be done with it.

I’d cry foul if I was a Dem. Wait for the ugliness at the DNC convention if Florida’s delegation (perhaps others?) are locked out.

laelaps on August 25, 2007 at 6:55 PM

You mean like Chicago, 1968? Only this time the violence will be inside the convention hall, not outside?

The date doesn’t matter. They still haven’t figured out how to cast a vote.

Zaire67 on August 25, 2007 at 5:33 PM

:-)

Maybe this is the shape of things to come under Herr Hillary. I bet Dr. Dean wishes he had his union thugs and mafia back to handle little problems like this.

Make every state’s delegate count dependent upon when they hold their primaries-the earlier the primary, the fewer delegates they get.

Lancer on August 25, 2007 at 4:11 PM

Nice idea, but it would probably cause the same type of problem going in the other direction. All the primaries would be the day before the conventions.

Hmmmm…. is that really a problem?

If the Democrats are still shut out of the White House after the 2008 elections, they may be having their primaries four years ahead of the elections.

NH ought to stand alone in January.

I’m from Florida, but lived in New Hampshire for over nine years. There is a huge difference in the primaries. Florida is so big you never get that close to the candidates. In NH they have to drop in on many coffee shops and mom and pop operations–they can’t hide behind their entourage as well.

This article caught my eye on Monday: Inquisitive NH Voter Reacts To Giuliani Remark. I’m not doing this to pick on Giuliani, this is just an example. (All the bold font in the following quotes is my emphasis).

Giving the little people a chance to face off with “big people” is what makes the New Hampshire primary famous.

Rudy Giuliani is the latest candidate to get caught off guard by a cut-to-the-chase question from a voter.

The writer outlines the question and goes on to say:

It’s outrageous Katherine has been taking heat for politely asking about it. And it’s testimony to the value in forcing candidates out of their media bubble once in awhile to take blunt questions from fearless voters, New Hampshire style.

The American Spectator had a column on NH on Tuesday: Still Some Granite in New Hampshire

…it was an easy trick in my week’s visit here to catch Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Tom Tancredo strutting their stuff in venues including a country store, an auditorium at a solar panel manufacturer, a small concert hall, restaurants, and individual homes. Rudy fetched more than 300 at the solar manufacturer, and Tom Tancredo talked and answered question for more than a hour for 16 people at a home in Concord…

…I also took the occasion for a close look at New Hampshire’s storied retail presidential politics. I’m glad I did. Things in this arena are alive and well. New Hampshire, along with Iowa, is still vetting the candidates for the rest of the country in that up close and personal way. Nothing packaged about the way candidates here are obliged to answer sometimes pointed and mostly intelligent questions, usually far away from television cameras.

When these guys leave New Hampshire, they’ll move on to states where campaigning is wholesale, where packaging for TV rules, and where the voters don’t get nearly the opportunity to talk back as they do here. Even Tom Tancredo wouldn’t talk to 16 people in a private home in Florida, not unless there were TV cameras there. In New Hampshire, voters get the measure of candidates, and put them on the spot in ways they just can’t do elsewhere. It helps the savvy and engaged voters here make up their minds, it helps the rest of us better understand those who want to be America’s CEO, and it will still give the candidates who win here a heck of a bump.

It is obvious that one of the candidates campaign apparatus is attempting to skew the nominating process in her favor, and the other candidates are fighting back.

What I don’t know is who is doing what to whom, nor how it works. You political fanatics are going to have to explain this in terms I can understand.

Beyond that, this demonstrates what the individuals involved are willing to do; i.e. change the rules, especially changing the rules in their favor.

“Let’s flip a coin, that would be fair, right?
Heads I win, tails you lose, deal?.”

I’m not claiming I’ll support him in the end, we’ll see what he’s made of… Rumor has it he’s made of Centrum Silver, geritol, and depends. If that’s true, Fred meet me behind Shoney’s during happy hour, I’ll be the one wearing a hospice nurse’s uniform with a hole in the back.