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December 11, 2007
Iowa Sets the Stage
Why does a state with a population that is less than the city of Los Angeles wield so much influence in determining who the presidential candidates will be? It's absurd. No wonder so many states are trying to move their primaries up. Some states (Michigan and Florida) are even risking severe penalties for moving their primaries before New Hampshire's. After all, why should Iowa and New Hamshire get all the fun?
What really needs to happen is a national primary election scheduled in June. This would eliminate the wheeling and dealing that goes on in a caucus like Iowa's. In 2004, Howard Dean was locked out when Edwards made deals with Kucinich so that Kucinich's supporters voted for Edwards instead of Dean. This eventually led to Dean's "maniacal" pep talk that the media used to portray Dean as a loose canon nut-ball.
There are no deals to be made in an election. People vote for the candidate they want. Winner takes all. That's the way democracy is supposed to work.
The biggest argument against national primaries is the cost of staging two national campaigns, one for the primary, and one for the general election. But the way things are going, all the candidates are running a national campaign for the nomination anyway. Why not make it official?
That way the political "season" starts after New Year instead of before Thanksgiving, and we can have a little more civility to close out our year.
Posted by MD Wong at 10:47:35
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